From travel to taylor swift, hidden fees are rising

AARP has been advocating for the transparent and upfront disclosure of fees. In a January 2024 letter to Khan, AARP called for fees that are "reasonable and proportional to the services

rendered." “People reliant on fixed and modest incomes, like most older adults, are particularly vulnerable to hidden fees, which can add up while providing no consumer benefit,” the

AARP letter says. The rule goes into effect 120 days after its publication in the _Federal Register_, well after the new president is sworn in. President Donald Trump has already announced

that he intends to replace FTC Chair Khan with Andrew Ferguson, the lone dissenting vote in the agency's junk fees ruling. Not all fees are illegitimate. Charges may cover staffing and

the cost of doing business, and companies have a right to make a profit. But some businesses are more transparent about disclosing fees to consumers ahead of time, rather than burying them

in the fine print of advertisements or contracts. What you’re paying for — or not — can get squishy. JUNK FEE PROBLEMS TARGETED The Biden administration asked federal agencies to find ways

to reduce or eliminate hidden fees, charges and add-ons for everything from banking services and cable and internet bills to airline and concert tickets. “It’s beyond frustrating to end up

spending more than you budgeted because of random, arbitrary fees,” Khan said in an earlier statement. “No one has ever felt that a ‘convenience fee’ was convenient. Companies should compete

to provide the best quality at the best price, not to see who can squeeze the most added expenses out of consumers.” Along the way, the FTC solicited comments from the public “on the harms

caused by junk fees and the unfair or deceptive tactics companies use to impose them.” Some of those fees it considers fraudulent include auto dealerships’ “nitrogen-filled” tires that have

no more nitrogen than normal air. The agency also wants to improve the public’s access to funeral prices posted online. In January, the FTC sent warning letters to 39 nationwide funeral

homes after investigators discovered “several violations” of the Funeral Rule following an undercover phone sweep. An FTC document explains the rule: "The Funeral Rule requires [funeral

providers] to give consumers accurate, itemized pricing information, and various other disclosures about funeral goods and services." On 38 calls, investigators said the funeral homes

either refused to answer pricing questions or provided inconsistent answers. TRANSPARENCY SOUGHT ON BANK, AIRLINE, TV FEES THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, an independent agency

within the Federal Reserve System, issued guidelines in October 2022 on surprise overdraft and depositor fees it says violate the Consumer Financial Protection Act. “Financial institutions

should compete for consumers’ business based on the quality of their products and services and attractive interest rates. Their profit models should not rely on excessive and unpredictable

junk fees,” Deborah Royster, CFPB assistant director in the Office for Older Americans, told AARP at the time. In May, the CFPB announced it is seeking public comments about junk fees added

to mortgage closing costs. Charges for credit reporting, employment verification and title insurance are draining down payments and pushing up monthly mortgage costs, the bureau says. The

median amount borrowers paid in 2022 was nearly $6,000, and between 2021 and 2023, loan costs increased by more than 36 percent, according to the agency. Lenders often slide the higher fees

they see down to the homebuyer. THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION issued its own rule to make extra fees more transparent. It wants airlines to issue refunds for checked-bag fees when

luggage is significantly delayed or when services such as Wi-Fi don’t work in flight. Its public comment period has closed. In January 2023, AARP sent a letter to the Transportation

Department asking the agency to finalize and strengthen the proposed rules to protect consumers. “While added fees may be appropriate in certain circumstances, the high fees for changing or

canceling travel plans and fees for families to reserve seats together do not promote affordable access to travel by air,” the letter read in part. “While disclosure is an essential first

step, we would encourage the department, and the airlines themselves, to reduce or eliminate such fees wherever possible.” THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION is targeting the fees that

cable TV and direct broadcast satellite providers add on. Late last year, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked commissioners to prohibit those companies from slapping consumers with billing

and early termination fees. “No one wants to pay junk fees for something they don’t want or can’t use,” she said in a statement. “When companies charge customers early termination fees, it

limits their freedom to choose the service they want.” CONSUMERS SPEAK OUT AARP informally canvassed social media users to ask which junk fees bothered them the most. The comments weren’t

surprising. “Activation fee, convenience fee or administrative fee of any sort,” responded Jon Freeman, an independent automobile consultant in Dallas. “So I’m buying a service from you. But

in order to do that, I also have to pay a one-time fee of a completely arbitrary amount just so someone can type a few buttons on their computer, which they do anyway?”