Lawsuit Claims Simm Associates Charged Illegal ‘Convenience Fee’

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A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in Florida against Simm Associates, Inc. over claims that it violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by charging an allegedly illegal “convenience fee” for automatic loan payments. The plaintiff alleges that she authorized the defendant to withdraw monthly payments from her bank account to pay off her son’s defaulted student loan debt. Between August 2014 and September 2016, Simm Associates charged her a monthly $12.95 “convenience fee” to process the automatic payments, according to the suit.

The case argues that this extra expense was not authorized by the plaintiff’s contract with the defendant and was therefore illegal under the FDCPA. The fee, according to the complaint, was “well in excess of” any amount actually incurred by the defendant in processing the payments and any amount a bank or processing center would charge for the service.