FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Beth Richards
(727) 376-4111

"SNAIL MAIL" COSTS MILLIONS IN LATE FEES
Talk host's proposal puts the $$ back in consumers' pockets.

Have you ever mailed your mortgage or credit card payment with plenty of time to spare, only to be charged a hefty late fee? You just know your check arrived on time, but there is no way to prove it. Well, you are not alone. Many Americans have been stung by unwarranted late fees at one time or another. They have been left asking how, without exercising expensive options, can a bill-payer guarantee an on-time payment will be credited in a timely fashion, without triggering late fees, interest and credit problems?

A bill before Congress could hold the answer. The "Postmark Prompt Payment Act" (H.R. 1963) requires creditors to accept a postmark date as the date of payment. Under its provisions, a creditor can not charge a late fee unless the envelope containing the bill payment is postmarked after the due date.

Talk show host Bruce Williams, syndicated on roughly 400 radio stations in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, proposed the measure to Congressman John McHugh (R-NY), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Postal Service. McHugh introduced H. R. 1963, which awaits a vote in his subcommittee.

Williams says he has received many calls during his twenty-one years in radio from individuals who claim to have mailed payments well ahead of time, but were assessed late fees, nonetheless. The problem, as the talk show host describes it, is that mortgage lenders and other creditors routinely sell their loans to companies that may be two or three thousand miles away. The borrower cannot deliver payments in person and typically relies on the U.S. Postal Service, which cannot guarantee timely delivery.

In addition, according to Williams' testimony before McHugh's subcommittee last October, "there is a temptation for some lenders to not pick up their mail on the last due day. Again, if the mail only 'reaches' them the following day, they are in a position to extract late charges from their customers, charges that are not warranted." The "Postmark Prompt Payment Act" would obviate these problems.

H.R. 1963, as presently written, will only protect the consumer if the payment is mailed prior to the due date, the envelope is properly addressed, has the correct amount of postage affixed to it, and is postmarked by the Postal Service. Metered mail will not be protected or accepted as evidence of timely payment because of the sender's ability to alter the postmark date.

Banking industry groups, including the American Bankers Association, testified in February in opposition to the bill, claiming credit issuers will have to save a record of every envelope they receive. Williams points out that they will only need to photocopy the small fraction which actually are late, and only if they care to enforce a late fee policy. He cites the IRS, which uses the postmark to determine timeliness for millions of individual and corporate returns in its annual, quarterly and monthly tax collections, as a successful precedent.

Expressing the opinion that the legislation, if passed, will "level the playing field" between borrowers and lenders, Williams delivered to the Postal Subcommittee some 4,000 to 5,000 postcards from supporters of the measure, which he characterized as "truly a grass roots initiative that has worked its way into the legislative process."

For more information or interview opportunities with Bruce Williams, please contact Beth Richards at (727)-376-4111.