AmEx Illegally Charges Late Fees on Holidays, Class Action Lawsuit Says

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American Express Bank FSB violates the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) by charging its customers late fees on credit card payments that are due on holidays, according to a class action lawsuit filed earlier this month in New York federal court.

Plaintiff Marcy Zevon filed the AmEx late fee class action lawsuit, alleging that she received a periodic billing statement from the bank indicating that a minimum payment for her credit card account was due on Sept. 2, 2013, which fell on Labor Day. Because Labor Day is a federal holiday, there was no U.S. Mail service on the day her payment was due.

Zevon alleges she mailed her payment sometime around Aug. 30, 2013 and that the bank credited the payment as received on Sept. 3, 2013, the day following the federal holiday. She was subsequently charged a $25 late payment fee.

“TILA specifies that ‘[i]f the payment due date for a credit card account under an open end consumer credit plan is a day on which the creditor does not receive or accept payments by mail (including weekends and holidays), the creditor may not treat a payment received on the next business day as late for any purpose,’” the AmEx class action lawsuit says.

Zevon filed the AmEx late fee class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and all consumers with AmEx credit card accounts who, since Aug. 22, 2009, were charged a late fee after mailing payments that were due on a weekend day, holiday or other day on which the bank did not accept mailed payments, and were recorded as received the first day following the date on which the payment was due.

AmEx’s “systematic and standard policy of treating payments arriving the first business day after a due date as late, when it does not receive or accept payments on the due date, violates the Truth in Lending Act,” Zevon alleges in the class action lawsuit.

The class action lawsuit seeks an order certifying the proposed Class, a declaration that AmEx’s late fee policy violates TILA, an injunction prohibiting AmEx from continuing to charge late fees, maximum statutory damages, restitution, attorney fees, litigation expenses, and other relief deemed appropriate by the Court. Zevon has requested a trial by jury.

Zevon is represented by Brian L. Bromberg and Jonathan R. Miller of Bromberg Law Office PC and Harley J. Schnall of Law Office of Harley J. Schnall.

The American Express Late Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Marcy Zevon v. American Express Bank FSB, Case No. 1:14-cv-07112-PAC, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.