The CFPB and FTC's War on Junk Fees and What You Need to Know

The CFPB and FTC have launched an aggressive attack campaign against “junk fees.” The CFPB marketed its latest set of supervisory highlights as the “Junk Fees Special Edition.” The splashy headline is consistent with the agency’s recent focus on fees that it asserts are hidden from the competitive process. In speeches, press releases, and blog posts (and now a single proposed rule to limit credit card late fees), the CFPB has stressed its growing concern with “junk fees." The CFPB even devoted a section of its website solely to press releases on “junk fees." In October 2022, the FTC voted to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking to curb companies’ use of “junk fees”—“unnecessary, unavoidable, or surprise charges that inflate costs while adding little to no value.”