Submitted by scumbagge t3_z8w87e in jerseycity
I received hundreds of dollars worth of EZ pass violations and that ate into my December rent payment. The last day to pay before incurring a late charge is the 5th, but my next check would be Friday the 9th. My lease ends in January and I would like to renew. Would this affect my renewal? Would they decline my request to sign a new lease? This is my first time being late.
Yeah I thought about it but idk how much power E-ZPass has. Saw threats of legal fees and registration suspension, etc. Thought I had to pay it asap. The tolls were like $4 each but they kept charging $50 admin fees.
Stop paying admin fees then
Can’t. You’re forced to pay these fees. There’s no option to selectively exclude these fees.
Did you already pay? This is somewhat embarrassing to admit but.. every time I get EZPass violations, I have my mom call them and she aggressively gets the $50 fees waived. I swear. She is a customer service bully but it has saved me maybe $250 this year from them not reading my tag.
Call and complain, they might be able to get the admin fees dropped.
Fuck I wish I had that. They never answer. Idek how this shit is even legal man. When I first saw it in the mail I was like this must be a mistake. $4 toll but I have to pay $54??? Multiply that by a few trips and now it’s a few hundreds. It’s Extortion
I’ll try again. I already paid out like $300 unfortunately.
It's not easy. My mom is retired so she has the free time to keep calling and stay on hold for an hour. She just doesn't like letting them win. At least you know for next time - call and let them know you're down to pay but can't afford the fine.
Oh but to give you peace of mind, once you're current with your rent, your landlord must offer renewal by law. If they're trying to get you out, maybe they'll try to offer it at a higher rate to deter you. Did you already sign a renewal?
Ok got it.
No it’s in January I believe. Lease started feb 1st. Maybe I could pay late this once. I just need to get a renewal.
BULL SHIT. I call bull shit. You are being lied to, which almost all businesses do nowdays. Because people BELIEVE THEM, don't haggle, and JUST PAY IT.
Stand up for yourself and take charge of your own life.
I'm sorry, but you are a sucker. You need to learn to fix that, first and foremost. I'm telling you this in a nice and constructive way. I want your life to be better.
... what on earth happened with your EZPass?
Was trying to just pay tolls by mail so I took my E-ZPass off the windshield. But it kept scanning my E-ZPass. This happened for about a month before I found out. Instead of receiving toll by mail, they sent me violations.
This is what credit is for, not for buying sprees. You can't get a cash advance of a few hundred bucks to get you through this?
FWIW, by New Jersey law they cannot refuse to renew your lease for one time late, as opposed to a pattern of lateness. They can however raise the rent up to the point at which a judge would call it "unconscionable". Search for and read the New Jersey pamphlet "truth in renting".
I'm also assuming that you're renting from some big management company, not a human who you can talk to and explain your predicament.
Explain what happened and let them know you'll pay the associated late fee. Life happens.
EZ Pass usually waves fees
I would pay your landlord ASAP and make up some excuse that is not because of your budget issues. Say it was a bank glitch or that you were out of the country (someone else below rec'd this). If you give them the real reason it'll give them pause about renewing because they might not think you're financial stable to pay the rent every month moving forward.
Good luck. A lot of people on here not being so nice without realizing that it could be a tough time for people financially, especially this time of year.
Yeah I thought about it. And I’ll just pay it to avoid that on my record. Especially with it being my first apartment.
small-time landlord here. While I'm happy to overlook small mistakes and short delays, it's pretty easy to see through bullshit like that. People with budget problems make up such excuses. This might work once, but not twice.
A few days late is not really that big of a deal with a big corporate landlord, usually. It's down to their policy. Everyone likes tenants that don't cause problems and pay their rent reliably. OP is still appreciated as a customer if she pays rent four days late once...
Also they love late fees
Why won't you just use the EZPass
It is not bullshit. If you don't pay they will send it to collections. Dealt with it myself. Luckily I caught it as soon as they sent it to collections, they hadn't removed my toll from the website so I paid it and told collections to fuck themselves. Never heard back, never got any ding on my credit, but I'm sure if I had waited any longer it could've been a nightmare.
But also OP: if you call EZ Pass and ask they will waive one fee. And it sounds like you don't have a transponder, you should get one ASAP. They are free with a $20 pre-load credit.
NJ EZ Pass does not do tolls by mail. You either pay cash or use your transponder. They will always send you a bill for the toll + $50 fee if you don't. Hard lesson to learn, been there myself. It is absolutely ridiculous and should be illegal, but it's not. In fact almost everything NJ EZ Pass does is predatory.
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Perhaps your mom should go into business for a percentage of the savings she gets from them. Looks like there is a demand for this service.
Correct answer. One or two late payments aren’t that high up on the list of non-renewable offenses, in my experience. (7y property management) But if you have a stickler of a landlord who maybe only has one or two units— could be a dealbreaker.
Just sign up for E-ZPass that way you don't have to pay any admin fees just the toll amount
I had this fear as well of getting penalties and what not. I had my EZ pass by my windshield it wasn’t working. So I asked them about it and they said my tag was fine. So I went through the ezpass lane again and it still wasn’t working. I was told by the toll booth lady that I had to call them and tell them what happened or lll get hit with fees and penalties.
Mah man!.. 😂
Hug your mom for me
HappyArtichoke7729 t1_iydl4js wrote
Rent gets prioritized above all else, I would have made EZ Pass wait until the 9th.
If I was a landlord, I would certainly take this as a red flag that you're not prioritizing rent as the #1 expense.