Legal Limits on Late Fees?

[windycitycoder]

Can someone please point me to a site that outlines legal maximums for late fees in IL? I've tried searching via Google, but haven't found the right information yet.

I want to make sure that what I have in mind for late fees for clients falls within the legal limits.

Thanks!

[Reli4nt]

I suspect that falls under contract law and may be governed by UCC but I am no lawyer.

If you have a contract that outlines fees and terms then it should be legal to charge whatever the client agrees to provided the project isn't set up in a way that forces the client to fail to meet his obligations or violates the law in some other way (illegal web site content for example).

If you haven't agreed to a late fee then I don't think the law will support you in charging one unless the lateness costs you money in which case you can try to bill for a reasonable amount which he can pay or not and you can attempt to collect in court if he doesn't agree to it. Otherwise court may be your answer.

[KDLA]

If you haven't agreed to a late fee then I don't think the law will support you in charging one unless the lateness costs you money in which case you can try to bill for a reasonable amount which he can pay or not and you can attempt to collect in court if he doesn't agree to it. Otherwise court may be your answer.

Agreed. Basic contract law states that a contract cannot be amended by one party after the original agreement. The amendment must be incorporated into a new contract and both parties must sign off on it.

[windycitycoder]

Thank you for the input Reli4nt and KDLA.

FYI, there isn't a contract in place right now (as for people who I trust I don't make them jump through that hoop - basically friends, family and strong referrals from friends). However, after this specific client has fought me on a very small invoice for work that was done and was late in paying for it, I need to require that they sign a client contract. Since they've already been late once, I need to have a late fee section in there. Just wanted some input while putting that together.