How late fees work
When your chapter can add a late fee to a charge, how much it is, and how to avoid one.
A late fee is an extra amount your chapter adds to a charge that is still unpaid a set number of days after its due date. MyGreek doesn't set late fees. Each chapter decides whether to use them and what the rules are. If your chapter has no late fee set up for a charge, that charge never gets one.
When a late fee is added
Your chapter sets each late fee as a rule on a kind of charge, for example "$25.00 if still unpaid 7 days after the due date."
- Timing: late fees are added at 12 AM in your chapter's time zone. The earliest a fee can land is 1 day after the due date. A charge due Sep 12 can get a fee at 12 AM on Sep 13, so you always have the whole due date to pay.
- Once per rule: each rule adds its fee to a charge only once. A chapter can have more than one rule, for example $25.00 after 1 day and another $50.00 after 30 days.
- Added to the same charge: the fee goes onto the charge it's for, so it raises that charge's balance and the total you owe.
How much a late fee is
A late fee is either a flat dollar amount or a percent.
- A flat fee is always the same amount, such as $25.00.
- A percent fee is a percent of what you still owe on that charge at the moment the fee is added. If you pay part of the charge first, a percent fee gets smaller.
Some rules only apply above a minimum balance. For example, a rule might only add a fee if you still owe more than $50.00, or more than 10% of the charge. If what you owe is at or under that amount, no fee is added.
Late fees and payment plans
Most late fee rules skip charges that are on an approved payment plan. Your chapter can also set a rule to apply whether or not you have a plan.
- A plan that is still waiting for your chapter's approval does not protect you. Until the chapter approves it, the charge can still get a late fee.
- If plan payments fail and the plan is canceled, the charge is no longer on an approved plan. A late fee can then be added at the next 12 AM run, even if the fee date passed while you were still on the plan.
See How payment plans work and A payment plan payment failed.
Where you see an upcoming late fee
- Next to your charges: when a fee is coming, MyGreek shows a note on the charge, such as "$25.00 late fee on Oct 1". A percent fee shows an estimate, such as "5% (~$12.50) late fee on Oct 1". The note appears on the web, in the mobile app and on the pay page parents use.
- A warning on the last day: if your chapter has late fee warnings turned on, MyGreek emails you on the last day before a fee is added, telling you how much will be added and to which charges. You may also get a text or app notification. Parents and other contacts on your account may get the warning by email too. If the charge is due that same day, your "payment due today" reminder mentions the fee instead.
How to avoid a late fee
- Pay the charge in full by the end of the last day before the date in the note.
- If you can't pay in full, ask for a payment plan early. Your chapter has to approve it before the late fee date.
- If you're on a plan, keep the card or bank account on it up to date so payments don't fail. See Change the card on a payment plan.
Common questions
My plan payment failed, I didn't hear about it, and now I have a late fee. What can I do?
When plan payments keep failing, the plan can be canceled. A canceled plan no longer protects the charge, so the late fee was added at the next 12 AM run. Contact your chapter treasurer: chapter admins can reverse a late fee. Then pay the balance or set up a new plan. To keep it from happening again, see A payment plan payment failed.
Can MyGreek remove my late fee?
No. Late fees belong to your chapter, so only your chapter's admins can reverse one. Ask your treasurer.
My chapter removed a late fee I already paid. Where is my money?
See Late fee removed: credit or refund?.