If you’re going to school at a Florida state university, your fee burden just grew a little bit lighter:
fees
Amex Ditches Monthly Gift Card Fees, Keeps Upfront Charges
By 9.30.09
Consumer advocates have long been critical of gift cards that carry hefty fees and expire without warning, leaving you with a worthless hunk of plastic when you find a card in your sock drawer two years after receiving it. American Express, until now a culprit when it comes to fees, has just ditched the $2 monthly charge recipients had to pay for the privilege of keeping a card for more than a year. Unfortunately, buyers of Amex gift cards will still be saddled with upfront fees ranging from $2.95 to $5.95 per card.
Freescore.com Sues Yahoo To Reveal Blogger's Identity
By 9.28.09
Freescore.com is one of those online companies that offers a free trial, and then attempts to enroll its customers in a $30/month subscription service. Now they’re suing Yahoo in an attempt to reveal an anonymous blogger who quoted a Reuters article when criticizing the service, and who pointed out that Freescore is owned by a company with a reputation for billing customers without permission.
Airlines Add $10 Surcharge On Busy Holidays
By 9.26.09
If you’re planning any air travel on the busiest post-holiday travel days this year, prepare to pay $10 in an extra, uh, “fuel surcharge” on Delta, American, and United flights. Fuel is super extra expensive on November 29th, January 2rd, and January 3rd, you know.
British Airways Adds Seat-Selection Fee
By 9.25.09
With baggage fees, $3 ramen noodles and even fees to let you cut the line, we thought the airline industry had gone about as far as it could to separate passengers from their money while preserving the illusion of selling cheap tickets. But British Airways has one-upped the yanks with a new fee that gives passengers the privilege of selecting their seats more than 24 hours in advance, for a mere £10 to £60.
Citizens Bank Now Charging An Overdraft Protection Fee
By 9.24.09
Lynne writes, “Citizens Bank is now charging customers an annual overdraft protection fee. This is a charge for linking your savings account to your checking account. Customers can be removed from the program and can get the fee back.” We don’t know when this started—they just say there might be fees involved and call for details on their website—but if you’re a customer of the bank you might want to make sure you haven’t been enrolled without knowing it.
Should Banks Be Forced To Ask Permission Before Overdrafting Your Account?
By 9.21.09
Sen. Chris Dodd plans to introduce legislation that would require banks to get permission before allowing fee-generating overdrafts. Banks are on track to earn $38.5 billion in overdraft fees this year and, according to a study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, most banks offer the “service” automatically. Common “features” of the programs include not notifying customers when an overdraft is about to occur, not offering them a chance to cancel the transaction, and processing the transactions in ways designed to increase the number of fees.
Reverse Sneaky Fees With These Free Complaint Letters
By 9.21.09
Want to claim a missing rebate, or reverse sneaky cable, bank, cellphone or hotel fee? These free complaint letter templates posted by Gotcha Capitalism and Red Tape Chronicles author Bob Sullivan are a godsend. It’s like Madlibs for money.
Spirit Air Hit With $375,000 Fine For Really Screwing Up
By 9.18.09
Spirit Air, home of fees for everything from buying your ticket online to being a victim of a plane crash (OK, they dropped that one), has been hit with a record $375,000 fine from the Department of Transportation for, among other things, false advertising, adding extra fees to its fares (toldja) and taking as long as 14 months to compensate passengers for lost luggage. Spirit’s response? Some perks are bound to fall by the wayside when you’re an “Ultra Low Cost Carrier.”
Comcast Raising Cable Modem Rental Fees This Fall
By 9.16.09
Comcast is going to start rolling out a $2 fee hike across the country this fall, which means your cable modem rental fee will go from $3 to $5 by the end of the year. Comcast says they absolutely have to do this or they’ll never be able to pay for service and equipment upgrades, which makes us wonder how the poor underfunded company manages to stay afloat at all.
Banks Cling To Overdraft Fees Because They Need Them To Survive
By 9.10.09
Banks now make more on debit card overdraft fees than credit card penalties—they’ll rake in about $27 billion in 2009 alone, according to the New York Times. They obviously have zero incentive to curb the practice. In fact, one economist told the paper that “45 percent of the nation’s banks and credit unions collect more from overdraft services than they make in profits.”
Walmart: No More Paycheck Here's Your Pre-Paid Debit Card
By 9.9.09
Walmart, our nation’s largest employer, has eliminated paper paychecks. Now employees can choose to sign up for direct deposit or have their wages added to a pre-paid debit card. ABCNews says that only about half of Walmart’s employees use direct deposit — the rest either prefer a paper paycheck or, in some cases, don’t have a bank account.
Squash Minimum Purchase Fees With Wallet-Sized Merchant Agreement
By 9.8.09
Fed up with stores not knowing the rules for credit card purchases, Andy at NonToxicReviews created this handy credit-card-sized PDF of the relevant portions of Visa’s and MasterCard’s merchant agreements.
Want To Cut The Boarding Line On Southwest Airlines? That'll Be $10
By 9.4.09
Do you know what the airline industry really needs about now? More fees! Luckily, Southwest Airlines is happy to oblige. They’re now charging a $10 fee to customers who want to board the plane before everyone else.
Need To Change Your UPS Delivery Address In Transit? There's A Fee For That
By 9.3.09
If you’re having a package delivered by UPS and want to change the delivery address while it’s in transit, be warned: this service will now cost you either $4 or $6 depending on whether you make the request online or over the phone.
Bank Of America Wants To Begin Paying Back Bailout Money, Avoid Government "Fee"
By 9.1.09
The Wall Street Journal says that Bank of America is interested in paying back a portion of the bailout money it received, with the goal of getting out from under the purview of the salary czar and reduce a “layer of federal involvement in its affairs.”
Tmobile Raising Overage Rates 9/01 – Cancel Without Fee
By 8.31.09
Tmobile will be raising overage rates September 1st, and customers can use it to cancel without early termination fee.
American Airlines Raises Baggage Fees For Flights Abroad
By 8.28.09
If you thought you could escape American Airlines‘ increased domestic baggage fees by only flying abroad, think again: AA is raising checked bag fees for some international flights to Europe and India.
