Legal Question in Consumer Law in Michigan

My husband has a car loan through a credit union. The loan was supposed to be paid of this April. We just noticed our balance shows that we will still owe like 3 more payments after that. I called the credit union and they told us we had almost $1,300 in late fees. I was floored. We were never 30 days late but for a long time we were a week or 2 late because of some financial hardship. The credit union never notified us to let us know that we owed this money. They just tacked in on to the end of our loan and now say we have to pay it. On their website, there is a disclaimer that says they will let all of their members know when they are past due on any of their loans. We never received anything. Is it legal for them to charge us all of this at the end when they never made us aware that we had late fees?


Asked on 2/09/15, 10:48 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Campbell Andrew L Attorney at Law

What does the contract say? The contract controls. So it will define "late fees", "past due" and "simple interest". Also, I am wondering if the type of interest was really the issue. If it was a simple interest contract, interest will continue to accrue. That type of contract rewards those that pay early and punishes those that pay late. The contract will control so you need to read that and/or the security agreement you signed to really understand what is happening. It would also help to gather all of your statements to determine if this was asserted at all.

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Answered on 2/09/15, 12:09 pm


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