Deborah Jackson and Victoria Davis v. American Loan Company, Inc.

Plaintiffs contend that the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601-77, does not permit a lender to use the word “fee” rather than the term “finance charge” to describe a price for extending the payment deadline. Nothing in the Act or its regulations requires use of the term “finance charge” for any transaction other than the initial loan or its refinancing—and it is common ground that an extension of time to make one payment of a multi-payment loan is neither. But plaintiffs insist that when the entire debt is repaid in one lump sum any extension must be deemed a “refinancing” of the…