Junk fees – those hidden and bogus charges that have found their way into a wide variety of transactions – are on consumers’ minds. Based on what they’ve told the Federal Trade Commission, junk fees are on their nerves, too.
After receiving more than 12,000 comments about how these fees impact consumer spending and affect honest businesses, the FTC announced on Oct. 11, a proposed rule on deceptive fees.
The agency is now looking for further feedback – this time about the specifics of how the FTC proposes to address the issue of junk fees.
The online link to file public comments is now live and the agency welcomes the thoughts of consumers, researchers, business people, and anyone else who wants their voice heard about junk fees.
Here are some examples of junk fees from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:
Our investigations have uncovered major misconduct at the nation’s largest banks. We caught Wells Fargo and Regions Bank in a multi-year surprise overdraft fee scam. By manipulating how payments were processed, the banks even charged people multiple overdraft fees in a single day, rather than just one. At Bank of America, we found a nationwide double-dipping scheme, where the bank charged multiple fees for the same transaction.
Other examples of junk fees include unnecessary additions to hotel bills, car rentals, and event tickets.
And fees also are added to restaurant bills; prepared food and grocery delivery apps; airline tickets; auto sales; internet, television, and telephone services; rental housing fees; education fees; financial services fees; and correctional services fees.
The fees are maddening because they’re usually hidden until consumers pay. In addition, often there doesn’t seem to be any reason for the fee, except to make more money for the company.
