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אַרְיֵה |
Is there any requirement, state (specifically Florida) or federal, for a minimum elapsed time between issuing a bill / invoice, and applying a late fee? I assume that issuing a bill today and applying a late fee tomorrow is a no-no. If there is a regulation, can anyone give me a pointer to it? הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | ||
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| Member |
I'm not a lawyer and this is not advice. I don't know the answer to your question specifically, but I can offer some advice based on something that happened to me. I was late on a bill once because I was stubborn etc. I was sent to collections. Collections called me and bullied me. I called the office of the place I owed the money to and cut a deal directly with them. It made the collections people crazy angry. Sorry if this is too far off topic. Beagle lives matter. ______ (\ / @\_____ / ( ) /O / ( )______/ ///_____/ | |||
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| Thank you Very little  |
Link of Late Fees by State Florida. In Florida, the law specifies the maximum late fee a business can charge is 5% of the overdue balance. Businesses in Florida must allow a grace period of fifteen days following the due date before applying late fees. | |||
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Age Quod Agis |
^^^^ Note that your cited restriction only relates to the providers of high interest loans, and is not a statute of general applicability. "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | |||
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| אַרְיֵה |
I'll be more specific. The management at a locally owned self-storage place has changed their billing / invoicing system. Their new software sends bills five days before the due date, with late fees applied after that. Duke Energy's payment due date is 21 days after the invoice date. Spectrum Cable / Internet, 17 days. City Water & Trash Collection, 28 days. I do not believe that five days is reasonable, but I would like to know whether there is any federal or Florida state regulation that is applicable. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Thank you Very little |
Well, in my defense, it's been a while since I was in a Holiday Inn Express  Artie, would the rental of a storage place be construed as landlord-tennant situation, there is a separate FL statute on that... Link Landlord Tennant | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
I think different kinds of debt, not to mention states, have a variety of rules. Credit cards normally have to give a 21 day grace period before charging late fees. That is among the reasons I now pay any bills I possibly can with online banking or bill pay. There is a record of when I initiated payment, not to mention the time saved and postage reduced. The bank will also handle any dispute if there were to be a problem. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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| Age Quod Agis |
I don't know... I did over a half hour of research on this, and didn't land on a specific conclusion, on the other hand, I hadn't considered a landlord-tenant situation. On the third hand, most "protections" in landlord tenant law, relate to residential rentals, to thwart abusive landlords, or protect the poor and idiotic tenants, depending on your outlook. It seems likely that if a non-usurious fee is printed as part of the invoice, or noted as part of a contract, that it would be enforceable, but I'm not giving legal advice on this one, as the Florida law is all over the place. "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | |||
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| אַרְיֵה |
The way that I read it, most of the information in your link applies to residential situations. Mine is more like a business property; I think that there are some definite differences. For example, there is no sales tax for residential rent if the rental period is more than six months, but there is sales tax on commercial rental property with no time limit. To clarify again, I am not concerned about the amount of the late fee. My question is directed at the short notice, only five days from issuing the invoice, until the due date. To make matters worse, I think that their billing system uses five calendar days, as opposed to five business days. Just seems like too short an interval from billing date to due date. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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Oriental Redneck |
I agree with you that is totally bullshit. Assholes just trying to make more money unscrupulously. Q | |||
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| Thank you Very little |
I think that would depend on how the contract is written, did you take it out in the business name, or, is it in your personal name, you just pay it with funds from the business. There are usury laws in every state but as you said most apply to business/consumer relationship/contracts. In this case, if you want to continue the relationship, and it's a steady amount to pay, then setup an auto pay 5 days prior to the billing date. Not sure how they can legally give a 5 day period from the invoice date, mail today is so messed up you could conceivably get an invoice post 5 days, especially if the mail time goes over a weekend. I did locate an interesting article from a Law Firm on interest and late fees for corporate to corporate billing that quotes FL law, the 5 days grace may be in violation, but, you'd need an attorney to be sure Link
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| Age Quod Agis |
I saw that. I always question the accuracy of stuff culled from lawyer's web pages when there is no citation to the relevant Florida law or regulation. Laziness in my profession is endemic, and "safe" rather than "legal" information is often what you see in public postings. I say this, and my prior posts, not to criticize your commentary, which is valid, but rather to add a cautionary note about the validity of the sourcing of a lot of legal information on the web. Much of it is wrong, some is spectacularly wrong (as JALLEN would have said), and much is "safe" as in so plain vanilla that it would be un-objectionable in almost all circumstances. Because Florida also has the Department of Professional Regulation, much of the regulatory regimen is written by particular departments for particular industries, and influenced by particular industry lobby groups. What may be an acceptable late fee or interest rate in one industry may not be in another. DBPR is notoriously inconsistent. Consider this: The training, apprenticeship and certification to become a licensed Barber is more difficult, comprehensive, and complicated, and takes longer, than to become a licensed Cosmetologist. But, a Cosmetologist can operate a mobile facility (like a van, or house calls) and a Barber cannot. They are regulated by different departments, and the regs are internally inconsistent. "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | |||
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| Needs a check up from the neck up  |
I do Florida commercial leases. I am not aware of any restriction on notice for a late fee. Florida is the wild west with commercial leases, if you signed it it's gonna stick. Now if it's not in the lease/agreement then that is a different story. __________________________ The entire reason for the Second Amendment is not for hunting, it’s not for target shooting … it’s there so that you and I can protect our homes and our children and and our families and our lives. And it’s also there as fundamental check on government tyranny. Sen Ted Cruz | |||
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| Member |
Many years ago a Federal law was enacted requiring bills to be sent at least 15 days prior to due date. I do not know to what it applied but most adhere to the 15days. Of course grace periods are a different matter. __________________________________________________ If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit! Sigs Owned - A Bunch | |||
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| Age Quod Agis |
I agree with Timdogg6 on the commercial lease universe. It's pretty much, you signed it, you live with it. "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | |||
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| and this little pig said: |
Check with the FL Attorney General's office. They should be able to help you out! | |||
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| אַרְיֵה |
This answers the question that I was actually trying to ask; unfortunately, I did not word my question as clearly as I should have. I was trying to ask how long before the due date, a bill needs to be sent. I clouded the issue by mentioning late fees. Anush: Do you have a reference to the Federal law that you mentioned? Any idea where I can find it? הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
Depends on how you’re sending. That’s another reason I like online banking payments, you get an exact date with almost all credit card companies as they go electronically so the mail speeds are not a factor. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
If you are personally affected, I've always called to get any late fees reversed and have had success at that even if the fault was at my end. I suppose you're going on the assumption that the invoice is what triggers the billing cycle. And, yes, normally, companies give a certain number of days before penalties accrue. But, I'm thinking, the storage company is looking at it as a rental property like a residence. I just looked at the lease agreement for my last place and the late charge of $50 drops if the total rent is not paid by the 3rd day of the month with an additional $10 per day after that with admin fees for notices. They don't want to delay the process for non-payments and abandoned stuff in the storage lockers. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| No More Mr. Nice Guy |
Why not just do auto-pay for that one item? | |||
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