What Is a Late Fee?

什么是滞纳金？

A late fee is a charge that lenders and other companies impose on you when you fail to make an on-time payment. You may face late fees if you're late making payments on a loan, a credit card, or any other type of financial agreement, such as an insurance policy or rental contract.

滞纳金，是在您未能按时付款时，贷方和其他公司向您收取的费用。如果您未能按时支付贷款、信用卡或任何其他类型的财务协议（例如保险单或租赁合同），则可能会被收取滞纳金。

Late fees are designed to encourage you to pay by the due date and should be specified in the contract or other agreement. Lenders must notify you about any changes to late fees in advance and in writing.

滞纳金旨在鼓励您在到期日之前付款，并应在合同或其他协议中规定。贷方必须提前以书面形式通知您有关滞纳金的任何变更。

KEY TAKEAWAYS

要点

·A late fee is a charge you face if you fail to make a payment by the due date.

·如果您未能在到期日之前付款，则需要支付滞纳金。

·All late fees must be explicitly outlined to borrowers.

·所有滞纳金都必须向借款人明确说明。

·Late fees generally range from $25 to $50, though some may be lower.

·滞纳金一般在 25 美元到 50 美元之间，也有些情况可能更低。

·Late fees can increase account balances and can hurt your credit history.

·滞纳金会增加账户余额，并可能损害您的信用记录。

How Late Fees Work

滞纳金如何运作

Lenders like credit card companies and other creditors make money in a variety of ways, including by charging consumers various fees like late fees.

信用卡公司和其他债权人等贷方通过各种方式赚钱，包括向消费者收取滞纳金等各种费用。

Late fees are levied when you don't pay a bill by a certain date. For instance, if you fail to make your monthly credit card payment—at least the minimum—by the due date, the card company may impose a late fee that will show up on your next statement. Or a landlord may charge a late fee if you don't pay rent on time.

如果您未能在规定日期之前支付账单，则需要支付滞纳金。例如，如果您未能在到期日之前支付每月信用卡还款（至少是最低还款额），信用卡公司可能会收取滞纳金，该滞纳金将显示在您的下一份账单中。或者，如果您没有按时支付租金，房东可能会收取滞纳金。

All late fees must be explicitly described in credit card agreements, leases, or other types of contracts. Creditors legally can't charge excessive late fees. What constitutes a "reasonable" fee is a matter of debate. In most cases, late fees typically range between $25 and $50.

所有滞纳金都必须在信用卡协议、租约或其他类型的合同中明确说明。依据法律，债权人不能收取过高的滞纳金。所谓的“合理”费用是一个有争议的问题。在大多数情况下，滞纳金在 25 美元到 50 美元之间。

Some creditors provide a grace period before they impose the late fee. For instance, your rent may be due on the first of every month. But the landlord might allow you to pay rent by the 10th without incurring a late fee. A grace period must be clearly stated in the lease agreement.

部分债权人在收取滞纳金之前会提供宽限期。例如，您的租金可能在每月的第一天到期。但房东可能会允许您在 10 号之前支付租金而不会产生滞纳金。宽限期应在租赁协议中明确规定。

Some creditors waive the late fee the first time you miss the payment deadline, while others do not charge any late fees at all. Still other lenders offer no leniency and charge a late fee even if you just miss the payment deadline by a matter of minutes or hours.

部分债权人会在第一次错过付款期限时免除滞纳金，而有些债权人则不收取任何滞纳金。还有一些贷方不会提供宽限期，即使您只是在几分钟或几小时内错过了付款期限，也会收取滞纳金。

Late fees can increase your outstanding account balance. For example, a late fee may be added to the next month's credit card statement. Not only does that raise the balance by the amount of the late fee, but you would then have to pay interest on the late fee as well.

滞纳金会增加您的未结账户余额。例如，可能会将滞纳金加入到下个月的信用卡账单中。这不仅会使余额增加滞纳金的金额，而且您还必须支付滞纳金的利息。

Impact on Your Credit

对信用的影响

Missing a payment due date can also have a negative impact on your credit history and credit score. That's because payment history plays a major role in credit scoring models, making up about 35% of your FICO score, for example. So, the more payments you miss, the more you will pay in late fees, and you can also expect your credit score to take a hit.

错过付款到期日也会对您的信用记录和信用评分产生负面影响。这是因为付款记录在信用评分模型中起着重要作用，例如，占您的 FICO 分数的 35% 左右。因此，您错过的付款越多，您需要支付的滞纳金就越多，而且您的信用评分也会受到影响。

How to Avoid Late Fees and Other Penalties

如何避免滞纳金和其他罚款

You can often avoid late fees by arranging for your bills to be paid automatically from your bank account. This depends, of course, on you having enough money in the account to cover the payment.

通常可以通过安排从您的银行账户自动支付账单来避免滞纳金。当然，这取决于您的账户中是否有足够的钱来支付这笔款项。

It's always a good idea to pay a credit card on time and in full each month to avoid interest charges. But if you can't pay off the full balance, making at least the minimum monthly payment on time will help you avoid a late fee.

每月按时全额支付信用卡以避免利息费用始终是一个好习惯。但如果您无法付清全部余额，至少按时支付最低月付款额将有助于您避免滞纳金。

In some cases, late payments can also trigger other charges. For example, if your checking account does not have enough money to cover a credit card payment, you can also incur a returned payment fee from the credit card issuer as well as a non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee from the bank.

在某些情况下，逾期付款还会触发其他费用。例如，如果您的支票账户没有足够的钱来支付信用卡付款，您还可能被信用卡发行商收取退回付款费，以及被银行收取资金不足 (NSF) 费。

Lenders may also review and raise interest rates based on payment history. This is referred to as penalty repricing. When that happens, the lender will raise your interest rate to the penalty annual percentage rate (APR) described in the credit agreement, which may be considerably higher.

贷方还可能根据付款历史审查和提高利率。这被称为惩罚性重新定价。发生这种情况时，贷方会将您的利率提高到信用协议中规定的惩罚性年利率 (APR)，该利率可能会高得多。

Late fees are just one of several types of fees banks and other companies charge consumers. For instance, credit card users can also be subject to annual fees, balance transfer fees, foreign transaction fees, and returned payment fees. These fees can be avoidable if you choose your credit card carefully because not all cards impose every fee. You can also avoid fees by following the contract terms.

滞纳金只是银行和其他公司向消费者收取的几种费用之一。例如，信用卡用户还可能被收取年费、余额转账费、外汇交易费和退回付款费。如果您仔细选择信用卡，这些费用是可以避免的，因为并非所有信用卡都会收取所有费用。您还可以通过遵守合同条款来避免费用。

Cracking Down on Junk Fees

严厉打击垃圾费

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced in March 2024 that it would cap credit card late fees at $8, down from a typical fee of $32. It estimates this will lead to average savings of $220 a year for 45 million consumers who now pay late fees.

消费者金融保护局 (CFPB) 于 2024 年 3 月宣布，将把信用卡滞纳金上限从通常的 32 美元降至 8 美元。据估计，这一措施将为目前支付滞纳金的 4500 万消费者每年平均节省 220 美元。

However, the rule is opposed by banks, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit and a request for a preliminary injunction to keep it from taking effect. It says the rule will cause financial institutions to pass along costs to consumers who have never paid late.

然而，这项规定遭到银行的反对，美国商会提起诉讼并要求初步禁令阻止其生效。它表示，该规则将导致金融机构将成本转嫁给从未延迟付款的消费者。

Under the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, or the CARD Act, late fees must be "reasonable and proportional" to the costs that credit card issuers incur as a result of late payments. But in February 2023, the CFPB report noted that late fees currently range as high as $41 and generate income that is about five times greater than the collection costs.

根据 2009 年《信用卡问责责任和披露法案》（简称 CARD 法案），滞纳金必须“合理且与信用卡发行商因延迟付款而产生的成本成比例”。但在 2023 年 2 月，CFPB 报告指出，滞纳金目前高达 41 美元，产生的收入约为催收成本的五倍。

The CFPB has also reported on "junk fees" related to other types of borrowing. Some auto lenders, it said, illegally charged late fees that are more than what's stated in their loan agreements. For example, an auto loan servicer might assess a $25 late fee when the terms cap late fees at no more than 5% of the monthly payment amount, even if the $25 late fee exceeds that 5%.

CFPB 还报告了与其他类型借贷相关的“垃圾费”。报告称，一些汽车贷款机构非法收取的滞纳金超过了贷款协议中规定的金额。例如，汽车贷款服务商可能会收取 25 美元的滞纳金，而条款规定滞纳金不得超过每月还款额的 5%，即使 25 美元的滞纳金超过了 5%。

In the case of mortgages, the CFPB has reported that some servicers also charged late fees in excess of the amount spelled out in the mortgage terms. The lenders even charged late fees after explicitly saying they would not.

就抵押贷款而言，CFPB 报告称，一些服务商还收取了超过抵押贷款条款中规定的金额的滞纳金。贷款机构甚至在明确表示不会收取滞纳金后仍收取滞纳金。

Student loan servicers had a different issue, according to the CFPB. Their customer service representatives would sometimes accept a loan payment by credit card over the phone, then reverse the payment after learning that the servicer did not accept credit card payments. At that point, the borrower would incur a late fee.

CFPB 称，学生贷款服务商面临的问题有所不同。他们的客户服务代表有时会通过电话接受信用卡贷款付款，然后在得知服务商不接受信用卡付款后撤销付款。此时，借款人将需要支付滞纳金。

英文：Investopedia