Tag Archives: junk fees

Blog: Invitation Homes Invites You to Enjoy Rent Hikes, Fee Gouging, Disrepair, and Evictions

Last month’s settlement agreement with Invitation Homes confirms what their tenants have been telling us: our country’s largest landlord of single family homes has a consistent track record of ripping off its tenants. The United States faces an unprecedented housing affordability and homelessness crisis, but corporate landlords like Invitation Homes who dominate our housing supply in too many regions are thriving and profiting richly at their tenants’ expense. Tenants of corporate landlords are organizing around the country, calling out their landlords for steep rent increases, junk fees, skimping on repairs, and aggressive eviction practices. 

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

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. Junk fees cost families tens of billions yearly. They inhibit competition and hurt consumers, workers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Fighting them is immensely popular.

News Release: Committee Majority Lines up with Wall Street in Vote to Roll Back Late Fee Cap

The House Financial Services Committee voted to overturn a regulation capping credit card late fees, putting a majority of its members squarely on the side of big banks that have ripped off consumers for years. The new rule, finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on March 5, would reduce the typical late fee on credit cards from $35 to $8, saving consumers $10 billion each year. For the 45 million households that pay late fees, that amounts to an annual savings of $220.

A book titled "Consumer Protection" on a desk with a gavel resting on top

Letters to Regulators: Letter to the FTC on Junk Fees

AFREF and partners led a letter to the FTC urging it to use its rulemaking authority to protect American consumers from junk fees and put money back into our pockets. Millions of consumers have expressed outrage at the imposition of service fees for live event tickets, “amenity” or “resort” fees charged by hotels, endless surprise rental car fees, hidden internet and cell phone charges, junk fees in the financial sector, and more. The federal government has taken a holistic approach to this problem, including the White House Competition Council, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and now the FTC.