FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aug. 13, 2024

CONTACT
Carter Dougherty, carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org

35 Groups Call on Next Administration to Carry On Fight Against Junk Fees 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, 35 community, civil rights, consumer, and advocacy organizations called on  presidential candidates to confront junk fees as a part of any future economic agenda. As President Biden highlights the success of his crackdown on junk fees – especially credit card late fees – presidential candidates should promise to protect people from unfair, undisclosed fees.

“Regulating junk fees must remain a part of any future economic agenda to lower costs for families,” said Amanda Jackson, consumer campaign director at Americans for Financial Reform. “Financial institutions should not be allowed to harm families by hiding their costs in junk fees that often only appear after a purchase is made. Exploitative junk fees drain money and resources from households. Lower-wage workers, people of color, and consumers across the country pay fees that further strain their budgets, exacerbating financial instability and economic precarity.”

A copy of the letter, which went to both Vice President Harris and former President Trump, is available here.

Junk fees cost families tens of billions yearly. They inhibit competition and hurt consumers, workers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Fighting them is immensely popular. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau efforts in particular merit praise and continued support. The agency is taking on overdraft fees, non-sufficient funds fees, and credit card penalty late fees to prevent consolidated corporate power from imposing fees that extract economic value from families.

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