The Federal Trade Commission is proposing a new rule that may save you money.
The FTC’s regulation will ban any hidden or junk fees that are added on to events, hotel rooms and even utility bills that unexpectedly hike the price you end up paying, The Associated Press reported.
The rules would require companies to list all mandatory fees when quoting a price, The Hill reported.
“The proposed rule would prohibit corporations from running up the bills with hidden and bogus fees, requiring honest pricing and spurring firms to compete on honesty rather than deception,” FTC chairperson Lina Kahn said, according to the AP. “Violators will be subject to civil penalties and be required to pay back Americans that they tricked.”
The FTC directive would not only apply to hotel rooms, tickets and utilities, it would also be required when renting a car or even an apartment, requiring the total price shown upfront, The Hill reported.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also fighting junk fees charged by banks when they’re offering basic services.
Both the FTC’s and the CFPB’s plans will be discussed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday. He had championed the removal of the fees as part of his administration.
The White House said that hidden fees increase costs by about 20% for consumers.
Not only do the fees cost money they also cost time consumers waste 50 million hours annually searching for the total price of tickets or hotel rooms. If they were done away with, the FTC said it would save about $1 billion each year in just those two spending categories.
Not everyone agrees that the move will actually save people money. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in February the “Washington-knows-best approach” would lead to fewer choices and make the economy less competitive, the AP reported.