Where are you noticing new or hidden fees that you're being asked to pay?
Posted at 5:00 AM on August 22, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(35 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
Wells Fargo will soon start testing a monthly fee that it will charge customers who use its debit cards. Other added fees show up on air tickets or phone and TV bills. Today's Question: Where are you noticing new or hidden fees that you're being asked to pay?
Comments (35)
How would I notice a fee if it was hidden?
Seriously, I don't care much about fees. There are dozens of individual costs that make up the final price of something. I don't need an itemized list of where every penny went. Just give me the final cost. If I have questions, I'll ask. If I don't like the price, I don't have to buy.
The bottom line is to just be a proactive consumer. If a corporation wants to practice bad customer service by jacking fees and hiding the costs then I take my business elsewhere.
On my car registration, there is now a $2 "technology" fee, regardless of whether I pay in person or by mail. If I try to pay online, they tack on an additional processing fee.
.... which is why big government and big business both need to be kept on a leash by vigilant citizens. The complicated part is that government regulation is the leash on business.
Shane thinks if you believe that big governments and/or dictators will do the right thing out of the goodness of their hearts I hear Bernard Madoff has an investment opportunity for you that you can't pass up.
http://ffh.films.com/PreviewClip.aspx?id=6707
imagine a world without banking...
"I believe if left alone a true free market will be self-regulating, even with evil credit card companies."
That's pure superstition, Shane. Experience has consistently shown otherwise. If you truly believe that mega-corporations will do the right thing out of the goodness of their hearts, I've got some real-estate you might be interested in, just southeast of Duluth.
"Steve is saying that with the new regulations the cost to a retail business of using credit cards will be borne by card users, rather than by everyone."
Steve is also saying that credit card companies will be less able to engage in predatory profiteering at the expense of merchants. Right-wingers complain about the spending of "other people's money." Well, before the new rules, credit card users were spending other people's (merchants') money on the convenience they were enjoying, while enriching the banks. There's an important distinction to be made between free markets and fair markets.
Steve & Kyle,
I guess I just disagree with your premise. I believe if left alone a true free market will be self-regulating, even with evil credit card companies.
Shane, I think Steve's point was that the credit cards weren't operating in a free market, becuase they had outsized influence and then used that influence to distort the market in their own favor. Steve is saying that with the new regulations the cost to a retail business of using credit cards will be borne by card users, rather than by everyone.
If you want me to post the definition of sarcasm for you, I can do that...
Irony is apparently lost on you, Shane. The "free market" in credit cards was clearly failing, as it always does when any entity gets so big compared to those it deals with that it can basically dictate terms of contracts through its monoploy or oligopoly power. When that happens, it's appropriate for the government to step in and level the playing field with regulations and/or taxes.
Steve the Cynic,
Once again you are so wrong I don't even know where to start. Clearly the credit card companies don't operate in a true free market. If you want me to post the definition of free market for you I can do that. The law that was passed has all kinds of rules limiting interest rates, late fees, marketing, etc. That is why fees and costs are increasing...
Shane, that's happening because the credit card companies are no longer able to extort so much in fees from small businesses who are virtually forced to accept credit cards or risk losing business. The card companies were distorting the market with their rules forbidding merchants from offering discounts for cash or charging fees for accepting plastic. They could do that, because they held all the power in the relationship. So for years now, card users have been getting that convenience for free, funded by retail businesses, and subsidized by those who pay cash, with only the card companies profiting. With the changes, credit card users will have to start paying more for the convenience, and card companies will again have to compete with plain cash. Isn't that the way the free market should work?
Ever since the government passed that credit card legislation I have noticed my two credit card companies charging more and more fees. As usual whenever the government gets involved they make things worse.
Here in Wi. you will be charged a $2.00 "counter" fee for using the DMV "brick and morter" building staffed by paid,my taxes at work, employees whose job is too serve thoses who choose to take the time to pay in person. Got that? You pay a "fee" for the use of a Gov. office that has a sole purpose of serving the public. The cheapest way to re-new a tag is sending your check through the post office and hope for the best. $2.00 so you can give the state employees a chance to do their JOB!
ST. PAUL'S MAYOR COLEMAN ...
IS THE KING OF FEES!
Coleman is raising city fees at nearly TWICE the rate for homeowner's than the increase in 2012 property taxes on the median value home of $149,300.
Taxes up: $ 44.00
FEES UP: $ 79.00
Total Increases: $ 123.00
Recycling fee alone is up $22.00, from $32.00 to $54.00....a 69% FEE HIKE!
Cell phone and cable add on fees are the worst, followed closely by Excel energy utility fees and all of their add ons, Wells Fargo has always been good to us and our morgage, forgiving the $117.00 late fee when we come up short on our morgage payment periodically.
@ Neil C
Since when do kids HAVE to have texting? Since when are cell phones a neccessity? There are such things as $20.00 cell phones and pay as you go options. If you find much of your business needing cell phone time, have your company buy you a cell phone.
Less stress.
Banks are saintly compared to cell phone companies.
I keep trying to imagine the meetings at Sprint/AT&T/Verizon headquarters where they brainstorm new ways to screw customers. I can't get the image of a room full of Dr. Evils out of my head. (Do they bring their bald cats?)
We're with Sprint for now. Here are my favorites.
- EVERY bill has an error in Sprint's favor. An extra line. Unlimited texting is all of a sudden 10 cents a text. A re-connection charge. Etc. (Our Sprint bill sits on the counter unopened until my wife fortifies herself with an adult beverage and gets the phone charged sufficiently spend an hour to get this month's issue resolved!)
- Kids wreck phones. Good news! You can buy insurance "that covers everthing" for $7/phone per month. But when push comes to shove, it does not cover cracked screens or water damage.
- My $140/month "unlimited everything" package never costs less than $200 a month.
You've to to laugh.
Randall, WF got my fiance with that scam too. It ended up she could only make a small number of transfers for free each month (10 total I think) after that there was a charge.
Like I said EVIL!
I implore everyone reading this to leave wells fargo immediately, and when you do they will ask you why you're leaving. Tell them because they are evil and you no longer will do business with an evil company. I took a few attempts to close my account, the first phone rep was surprised at my response, she must have been new. The other 2 reps seemed like they had heard that before plenty of times.
Wells Fargo recently talked me into opening a second checking/debit account for online purchases only, and a savings account-- telling me now smart it is to then transfer money from the savings account to that checking account as needed, keep the balance in that second debit account small-- to protect from fraud (in reality it protects Wells Fargo). Suddenly I discovered I was being charged a $10 fee for every transfer of money out of that savings account to that checking account. I was duped into opening those new accounts, that ultimately protect Wells Fargo, and I thought I was being a good customer, only to find they blackjacked me with hefty fees for doing what they lured me into thinking was a smart move to protect assets. I will be leaving Wells Fargo after being a customer for theirs for 25 years. Enough is enough.
It seems these fees were initially an attempt by businesses to communicate that they were not raising prices, the government was. They often called it transparent causation.
Over the years these companies learned that customers would anchor their perception to the “basic” price and rarely challenged small additional fees. Acting on this, they began adding their own carefully named charges, hoping customers would assume they were also government pass-throughs.
As greg2 wrote, these fees are not hidden on the bill, but salesmen are careful not to mention them until the customer has settled into a decision. Then, just before the contract is signed, the salesman enumerates them quickly in a sympathetic tone, accompanied by a lamentation on the way the government is screwing us all. Notice this lamentation implies all of the fees are taxes, whereas explicitly saying so would be illegal.
I am going to organize a Race for the Cure of Greed. Thousands of people, men and women, shoulder to shoulder walk the low income neighborhoods chuck full of foreclosures-gretably-for a fight, a war against greedy bankers.
We will carry signs saying quotes like "The Bank is a Skank" "Freedom is not Feedom" "Don't Tread on Me" or for a more non-violent less aggressive approach, "Kindly Remove Your Mystery Fees from my Bill"
We'll all wear pink but we won't block the local residences driveways with our cars.
See what happens when you let them wiggle their tail feathers into your financial matters? They end up taking your home.
I am going to organize a Race for the Cure of Greed. Thousands of people, men and women, shoulder to shoulder walk the low income neighborhoods chuck full of foreclosures-gretably-for a fight, a war against greedy bankers.
We will carry signs saying quotes like "The Bank is a Skank" "Freedom is not Feedom" "Don't Tread on Me" or for a more non-violent less aggressive approach, "Kindly Remove Your Mystery Fees from my Bill"
We won't wear pink and we won't block the local residences driveways with our cars.
See what happens when you let them wiggle their tail feathers into your finnancial matters? They end up taking your home.
I don't know that the fees are hidden. I think what really happening is the formerly hidden fees ( often in "overhead" ) are now showing up a line items in bills. I'm more concerned about the stuff that isn't listed. Political donations from the company would be big one ... personally If the company has money to spare for politicians - it can cut its costs to me.
Regarding Wells Fargo-
I don't understand why ANYONE would do banking with them. Wells has admitted to- and paid fines for involvement with drug cartells and organized crime. Thier banking system is capable of ANYTHING!!
Glenn
I try to be really careful about ATM fees but sometimes it isn't clear how much you will be charged. I recently took $200 out of an ATM while on a trip to a neighboring state. I knew that there would be a small fee for using an ATM that was not my own bank. When I received my statement, I discovered that I had a total of $6 of bank fees-- $3 from the other bank and $3 from mine! That seems pretty steep and makes me think twice about ever using an ATM!
I haven't had a bank account for years. I got fed up with their parasitic fees and switched to credit unions a long time ago. Now it's the cell phone oligopolies....
I dropped wells fargo months ago after I finally had enough of their evil corporate greed fee structure. They purposely go out of their way to try to cause you to over draft. They always deduct checks and check card purchases not in order in which they occur, but from largest to smallest in hopes of causes the largest number of over drafts. They then do any additions to your account, like my direct deposit pay check. My new bank does not do that, and my direct deposit does in at 12:01 am on payday Friday, not late Friday morning after deductions.
The final straw was even opting out of overdraft protection, they STILL allow overdrafts to go through creating a negative balance AND a $35 overdraft fee per item. I thought there was laws against that now, but those evil #$@!! found loop holes and our useless corporate shill politicians will never reign in their corporate overlords.
Just last night when I looked at my account online there was a $.12 fee for an international purchase I made through my book reader on my Droid.
Cities are startingbto add franchise fees on tap taxescforvelectric bills,cable,wateretc. It makes for a nice cash cow for their general fund.Most consumers never question the fee or what itvis used for
With financial institutions, nowhere. I use credit unions. My cell phone bill went down by $.07. But my private student loan interest rate will surely go up because of the debt ceiling legislation.
Hidden fees are everywhere! My home phone, cell phone, cable, electric, natural gas, and water bills all have governmental imposed francise fees in addition to sales tax. In some cases the fees add up to more than 40% of the total bill.
What really annoys me is the $.75 tech fee I pay for auto license renewal, in addition to a recording fee and a $5.00 wheelage tax. What the hell is a tech fee for auto license renewal?
I regard all governmentallly imposed "fees" as taxes, but of course I can't deduct them.
Travel fees (taxes). Although, cities with low travel taxes also have abysmal (more often essentially nonexistent) public transportation.
When I see news reports of our military defending us throughout the world.
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