Texas Borrowers May Be Paying Improper Fees with Their SPS Mortgage Payment

Texas residents who pay an SPS mortgage payment may be charged unfair fees when they pay over the phone or online.

SPS stands for Select Portfolio Servicing, a mortgage company that is based out of Utah. According to the SPS company website, customers who pay online or over the phone are assessed a fee of up to $15.

These types of pay-to-pay fees may be against the law. The online or phone payment fees may be called different names, but they all mean that you are being charged a fee in order to pay your mortgage. Speedpay fees, convenience fees, processing fees, pay-to-pay fees or other descriptions may be tacked on to your mortgage payment even if your original mortgage agreement said such fees are not allowed.

Pay-to-pay fees are common in other industries. Movie theaters and concert venues often charge a convenience fee when you order tickets online.

Most mortgage agreements, though, explicitly state that extra fees cannot be charged to a borrower who simply makes the mortgage payment online or by phone.

Investigation into SPS Mortgage Payment Fees

While SPS mortgage payment fees inflicted upon Texas residence are under investigation, other mortgage companies throughout the U.S. have faced lawsuits over charging illegal fees.

Flagstar Bank faced a lawsuit by plaintiffs Arthur and Catherine M., who said they were charged a $15 processing fee every time they paid their mortgage payment  over the telephone. In their lawsuit, they alleged the fee was not authorized by their mortgage deed of trust, which means Flagstar might have been illegally charging them the fee.

In a similar lawsuit regarding pay-to-pay fees, M&T Bank was accused of charging a $15 fee for each pay-by-phone mortgage payment transaction. The M&T lawsuit, filed by California resident Lisa S., alleged, “The actual cost for M&T to process these transactions is well below $15.00, and M&T pockets the profit.”

By charging the $15 fee for the privilege of making her mortgage payment over the phone, Lisa argued, the bank allegedly violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Because M&T acquired Lisa’s loan in default, she says that makes the bank a “debt collector” in FDCPA terms. Because of the circumstances of how M&T acquired the loan, Lisa says that M&T is a “business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another.”

A bunch of Florida homeowners filed a class action lawsuit against Seterus Inc., which allegedly violated the terms of their mortgages by charging a $5 fee to pay online and a $10 fee to pay their mortgage over the telephone.

Mortgages often are sold from one company to another, but that doesn’t give a new lender the right to add hidden fees to pad their own pockets. If your mortgage is acquired by another company because you’ve gone into default with your mortgage, the new company servicing your loan may be in violation of the FDCPA if it charges a fee for making a payment online or over the phone.

Join a Free Mortgage Payment Fee Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were charged a payment fee for paying your mortgage online or over the phone, you may qualify to join a FREE online payment mortgage fee class action lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.