B OF A REDEFINES ‘GRACE PERIOD’ WITH NEW FEE
When is a grace period not really a grace period? When you have to pay a $6 fee for using it.
Some Bank of America mortgage customers will receive an unwelcome Valentine's Day gift when the bank's policy for grace period mortgage payments changes on Feb. 14. Essentially, it means those customers will have six fewer days to pay their mortgage each month without facing additional fees.
Consumers who use the bank's online payment tool, Mortgage Pay, will risk a $6 fee if they fund payments using another bank's checking account and the payment falls during the final six days of the traditional 15-day grace period. Consumers who make payments from Bank of America accounts are not subject to the fee.
"Let me get this straight. They tell you that you have a grace period, (then) they say, 'Oops, you only have half of it if you don’t bank with us,'” said Gail Hillebrand, a lawyer for Consumers Union who specializes in banking issues. "That doesn't seem fair. ... This looks like a new ‘gotcha,’ and we have enough of those already."
...
“If your payment is due on the first of the month and you have a 15-day grace period, you can schedule your payment to be drafted prior to and including the ninth of that same month to avoid a service fee,” it reads. “If you schedule your payment to be drafted on or between the 10th and 16th of the month, you will be charged a $6 service fee that will be included in your total deducted amount.”
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2011/01/un-grace-ful-mortgage-payers-face-grace-period-fee.html