As previously announced both here and here, Oklahoma and South Carolina have updated their laws regarding the maximum dollar amounts which can be charged for late fees.
The Oklahoma Department of Consumer Credit has, as they are required to do every year, increased the maximum late charge for delinquent payments on a consumer loan or revolving loan account as promulgated in Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 14A, § 3-203(1) & (5). This maximum amount has increased from $26.00 to $26.50.
Per S.C. Code Ann. § 37-1-109 & S.C. Reg. § 28-62, certain dollar amounts under South Carolina’s Consumer Protection Code (Supra §§ 37-1-101 through 37-30-175) are required to be adjusted on July 1st of every even-numbered year for inflation. For the changes this year, the maximum late charge permitted under S.C. Code Ann. § 37-3-203(1) & (2) has increased from $18.50 to $21.00.
We will be updating our ConformX Late Fee Defaults to reflect these changes. Our modifications will be pushed to Production on July 1, 2020; however, clients can test these modifications on our Stage and Stage 2 environments for two weeks beforehand. We strongly urge clients to test these changes before they are pushed to Production and to report any issues to Client Support as soon as possible, to ensure a smooth transition.
Miscellaneous Items and Matrices
The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs has also updated the dollar amounts which are used to determine which loans are subject to the prepayment penalty prohibitions promulgated in
S.C. Code Ann. §§ 37-10-103 & 37-23-80. These dollar amounts have been adjusted upwards, from $270,000 to $630,000 (i.e., prepayment penalties are prohibited for certain loans, the advancements of which are $630,000 or less).
We previously announced that the Minnesota Department of Commerce has made similar adjustments to dollar amounts under various parts of Minnesota’s Statutes. One of these changes includes the “minimum” late charge which could be imposed under Minn. Stat. Ann. § 47.59(6)(a)(4). This amount has been increased from $8.32 to $8.84. However, this change does not impact our ConformX Late Fee Defaults, since these Defaults do not take into consideration permissible (rather than mandatory) “minimum” amounts (Oklahoma is the only State which requires a $5 minimum late fee charge for consumer loans under Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 14A, § 3-203[1] & [5]).
All of the aforementioned adjustments are now reflected on our Late Fee Matrix, Late Fee Table, and Prepayment Penalty Matrix, which have been republished on our Matrices webpage.
Questions or concerns about any of these changes should be directed to Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
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