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Email template to dispute a fee on a loan

Your loan statement shows a fee that looks wrong: a late fee on a payment you sent on time, a "convenience fee" for paying by phone that nobody mentioned, or a charge you cannot match to anything in your loan agreement. The company you write to is the servicer, meaning the business that collects your payments and sends statements, which may not be the company that originally lent you the money. Disputing in writing matters more here than almost anywhere else. For a mortgage, a written dispute counts as a formal notice of error, and the servicer is required by federal rules to investigate and respond. For other loans it still creates a dated record that a phone call never will.

Before you send

  • The statement that shows the fee, with the exact name, date and amount.
  • Proof of your payment: a confirmation number, or your bank's record of the date the money left your account. The date it left you matters, not the date it appeared on your loan.
  • Your loan agreement, or at least the fee schedule and the grace period, which is the number of days after the due date before a late fee can be charged.
  • The last four digits of the loan account. Leave the full number, your login and any passwords out of the email.
  • A plan to keep making your regular payments while this is sorted out. Withholding payment turns a fee dispute into a real delinquency.
Subject Dispute of [fee name] charged [date], loan ending [last four digits] 
Hi [lender or servicer name],

I'm writing about a [fee name] of $[amount] charged on [date] to my [auto / personal / student / mortgage] loan, account ending in [last four digits].

I believe this fee was charged in error. [One or two sentences of fact, for example that your payment for that month was sent on a certain date and cleared your bank on a certain date, both before the due date and within the grace period in your loan agreement.]

Please remove the fee and confirm in writing that it has been reversed. If you believe the fee is correct, please send me the specific term in my loan agreement that allows it and the payment history you are relying on.

I can send my bank's record of the payment date if that helps. I'd appreciate a response within 30 days, and I'll continue making my regular payments in the meantime.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • A fair reply either reverses the fee or shows you the loan term and the payment record that support it. If they claim the payment "posted late," ask what date they received it; a payment must generally be credited as of the day it arrives, not the day someone processes it.
  • If the answer is a form letter that does not address your facts, reply once with the same facts and ask for it to go to a supervisor or the servicer's dispute department.
  • For a mortgage, you should get an acknowledgment within about five business days and a substantive answer within about 30 business days. Note the dates.
  • If the fee stands with no explanation, or the same fee keeps reappearing, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov and attach your email and their reply.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Dispute a fee on my loan 
Hi StandIn,

Please dispute a fee on my loan and get it removed or properly explained.

Lender or servicer: [company name].
Loan: [type, and the last four digits of the account].
The fee: [name as it appears, date, amount].
Why I think it's wrong: [one or two sentences].
Proof I have: [payment confirmation number, bank record, screenshot].

Write to them, ask for the fee to be reversed or for the exact loan term and payment history that justify it, follow up if they do not answer within a reasonable time, and tell me what they say. Do not share my full account number or login details.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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