financetom
Business
financetom
/
Business
/
Biden administration to limit credit card late fees in move against junk fees
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Biden administration to limit credit card late fees in move against junk fees
Mar 5, 2024 2:27 AM

(Reuters) - The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled its latest measures to combat rising consumer costs and charges known as junk fees, including an interagency effort to crack down on inflated prices and limiting what banks can charge for late credit card payments.

The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission will lead a joint "strike force" aimed at stopping illegal corporate behavior that hikes prices on Americans through anticompetitive or fraudulent business practices, said administration officials.

The administration will also finalize a rule that slashes credit card fees from an average of $31 down to $8, and another that gives ranchers and farmers more leverage when negotiating contracts with meat packers, officials said.

"Late credit card fees have gotten out of control," Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said during a press call previewing the moves.

The moves to address rising costs come as Democratic President Joe Biden and his allies try to change views among the many American voters unhappy with his economic stewardship.

Biden is set to highlight the steps during the sixth meeting of the Competition Council, which he created by executive order to stop anticompetitive practices in sectors from agriculture to drugs and labor.

Biden has successfully pressured companies such as Airbnb and Live Nation to limit junk fees - or extra charges - that customers pay when booking concert tickets, hotels and airfares.

The White House Council of Economic advisers estimates that the administration's actions will eliminate more than $20 billion in junk fees annually. The moves to counter junk fees is expected to feature in Biden's State of Union Speech on Thursday, White House aides say.

Chopra said the limit on credit card late fees will save American families $10 billion annually, or an average of $220 per year for the 45 million cardholders who are charged late fees annually. Credit card issuers have been exploiting a loophole created in 2010 that allowed them to escape a federal ban on unreasonable fees by increasing them each year with automatic inflation adjustments, Chopra said.

The Department of Agriculture rule, first proposed last September, prohibits among other things retaliation against producers for activities like asserting rights under the Packers and Stockyards Act, which aims to ensure competition in the livestock, meat and poultry markets.

"This final rule will provide for clearer, more effective standards by which to govern all of this in the modern marketplace," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a Monday press call.

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
Once a beacon of stability, Vietnam to name third president in a year
Once a beacon of stability, Vietnam to name third president in a year
Mar 22, 2024
HANOI, March 22 (Reuters) - Communist-ruled Vietnam is seeking its third president in little more than a year after the resignation of Vo Van Thuong, who was only elected last year after the sudden dismissal of his predecessor. With accumulated foreign direct investment higher than its gross domestic product, Vietnam's stability is crucial to multinationals with large operations in the...
Hutchmed Begins Registration Stage for Phase 2/3 Trial of Investigational Autoimmune Disorder Drug
Hutchmed Begins Registration Stage for Phase 2/3 Trial of Investigational Autoimmune Disorder Drug
Mar 22, 2024
05:04 AM EDT, 03/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Hutchmed ( HCM ) said late Thursday it has started the registration stage for a phase 2/3 clinical trial of investigational drug sovleplenib for adult patients with warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia in China. The move follows positive data from the proof-of-concept phase 2 stage of the trial and a consultation with the...
Japan's union group Rengo announces biggest wage hikes on record
Japan's union group Rengo announces biggest wage hikes on record
Mar 22, 2024
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese firms have agreed to raise pay by 5.25% this year, the biggest rise under comparable data since 2013, the country's largest union group Rengo confirmed on Friday. The results of the closely-watched wage negotiations are announced in several stages, in which the blue-chip firms are first to wrap up their talks in mid-March. The second announcement on...
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest scoops up nearly 10,000 Reddit shares in debut
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest scoops up nearly 10,000 Reddit shares in debut
Mar 22, 2024
(Reuters) - Popular investor Cathie Wood's ARK Invest bought nearly 10,000 shares of Reddit ( RDDT ) in the social media platform's strong market debut on Thursday, an email from the asset manager showed. A total of 9,982 shares of the loss-making company was added to ARK Next Generation Internet ETF ( ARKW ) and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (...
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved