A fee to pay your bill? Yep

The credit card reform law now prohibits lenders from charging a fee for paying your bill by phone, particularly if you use an automated system. But apparently the same doesn’t apply to mortgage payments.

Such practices — let’s call them pay-to-pay — are a particularly obnoxious example of ways some businesses reach deeper into customers’ pockets with unwarranted or overblown fees.

If you have a mortgage with Chase bank, for example, the company says on its statements that “Chase Fast/Pay is a quick and convenient payment option … with one simple phone call.” If you need help from a living, breathing service rep, the charge is $20.

But even if you use Chase’s automated phone system, the charge is still $15.

Wells Fargo charges an identical amount. So does Bank of America.