Poli Alert Political & Civics
Related Articles
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) last week launched an initiative to save households billions of dollars a year by reducing exploitative junk fees charged by banks and financial companies.
The federal agency, created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, is seeking consumers’ input on so-called junk fees associated with their bank, credit union, prepaid or credit card account, mortgage, loan or payment transfers.
Such experiences related to a product or service include: Fees people thought were covered by its baseline price; unexpected fees; fees that seemed too high; and fees where it was unclear why they were charged, according to the agency’s announcement Wednesday.
“Many financial institutions obscure the true price of their services by luring customers with enticing offers and then charging excessive junk fees,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “By promoting competition and ridding the market of illegal practices, we hope to save Americans billions.”
Companies across the U.S. economy are increasingly charging inflated and back-end fees to households and families. This new “fee economy” distorts our free market system by concealing the true price of products from the competitive process. For example, hotels and concert venues advertise rates, only to add “resort fees” and “service fees” after the fact. And fees purportedly charged to cover individual expenses, like paperwork processing, can often greatly exceed the actual cost of that service.
The CFPB’s research has found several areas where back-end fees might obscure the true cost of a product and undermine a competitive market:
- In 2019, the major credit card companies charged over $14 billion each year in punitive late fees.
- In 2019, bank revenue from overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees surpassed $15 billion.
“Today, with our request for public comment on junk fees, we are beginning the process of ending banks’ reliance on these exploitative income streams,” making costs more transparent and perhaps saving American consumers billions of dollars, Chopra said.
The CFPB is interested in hearing about people’s experiences with fees associated with their bank, credit union, prepaid or credit card account, mortgage, loan, or payment transfers, including:
- Fees for things people believed were covered by the baseline price of a product or service
- Unexpected fees for a product or service
- Fees that seemed too high for the purported service
- Fees where it was unclear why they were charged
