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35 Most Outrageous Fees (From Money Magazine)
By JLP | December 21, 2006
The January 2007 issue of Money has a really good piece on the 35 Most Outrageous Fees (sorry no link yet). What I found funny was that I could only find 33 “outrageous fees” listed. Their list (along with my thoughts on most of them):
BANKING & CREDIT
Over-Limit Fee - Charge too much or withdraw too much and you get socked with a fee.
Foreign-Currency Fee - Fees charged for using banking services while you’re overseas.
ATM Fee - Fees for using other banks’ ATM machines.
Late Fee - Fees charged when your credit card payment is late.
Same-Day Payment Fee - A “convenience fee” charged when you need to make a same-day payment.
Balance-Transfer Fee - Fees charged for switching credit cards
Bad-Deposit Fee - Fees charged when a check you deposit into your account bounces. This is a crappy fee.
Monthly Service Fee - Fees charged on checking accounts that are below a certain balance.
Biweekly Payment Fee - This is the cream of the crop. This fee is charged when you set up your mortgage payment to be paid twice per month.
REAL ESTATE
Junk Closing Costs - Don’t get me started on these fees. These are fees like “processing fees,” “document preparation fees,” and other such silly-sounding fees. I hate ‘em.
Title Insurance - According to the MortgageProfessor, “title insurance is protection against loss arising from problems connected to the title to your property. Before you purchased your home, it may have gone through several ownership changes, and the land on which it stands went through many more. There may be a weak link at any point in that chain that could emerge to cause trouble. For example, someone along the way may have forged a signature in transferring title. Or there may be unpaid real estate taxes or other liens. Title insurance covers the insured party for any claims and legal fees that arise out of such problems.”
MISCELLANEOUS
Phone Surcharges
Carrier Cost Recovery Fee
AT&T’s Tax-Related Surcharge
Property Tax Surcharge
Activation Fee - Associated with wireless plans. These fees are usually around $35.
Penalty to End Your Contract Early - End your contract early and you’ll get charged $175 - $200 (according to Money).
Stores
Gift-Card Activation Fee - I already talked about this one.
TRAVEL-RELATED
Car Rentals
Insurance - Insurance you pay when you rent a car. Some states make it mandatory and therefore it is built into the rental cost.
Excise Taxes - Taxes charged to visitors to help municipalities build new stadiums.
Airlines
Paper Ticket - Paper airline tickets are a thing of the past. If you still want one, you have to pay for it.
Talking to a Person - Want to talk to a real person instead of taking care of everything on the internet, and you’ll pay.
Changing Your Flight - It is what it is.
Reserving An Aisle Seat - Want a special seat? You’ll have to pay for it.
Overpacking - Don’t surpass the 50-pounds-per bag limit. Stupid, stupid fee.
Hotels
Internet Connection Fee - I haven’t run across this fee but that’s not to say that hotels aren’t charging it.
Resort Fee - Fees charged for use of the pool or exercise room.
Automatic Gratuities - No need to explain. A forced tip isn’t really a tip is it?
Package DeliveryFees - Fee charged by hotels to accept a package on your behalf.
Mini-Bar Restocking - HOLY COW! This fee is charged in addition to the prices you pay for the stuff you eat.
INVESTMENTS
Mutual Funds
Excessive Annual Fees - 1.25% per year for an index fund? That’s right! Some mutual fund families charge that much for an index fund. Go with Vanguard!
Annuities
Variable Annuity Expenses - These fees can easily reach 3% per year. OUCH!
Brokers
Transfer Fee - All brokerage firms charge a fee when you transfer your money away from them. I hate this fee.
529 Plans
Annual Expenses - According to Money, the best plans charge as little as .5% per year, while other plans charge as much as 2% per year. Shop around.
Did Money miss any? What fees are there that you can think of that are outrageous?
Topics: Miscellaneous |