It’s Wednesday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 12/18/2024:
| 7:00 AM Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Out-of-Town Pool |
| 11:00 AM The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing Closed Press |
Two Tweets
From Tuesday…
Today, the Federal Trade Commission is answering my call to lower costs and promote competition by banning hidden junk fees when you book a hotel or purchase event tickets.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 17, 2024
This builds on my work to ban junk fees and lower costs – saving many families hundreds each year.
From the White House…
12/17/2024:
Statement from President Joe Biden on the FTC Banning Hidden Junk Fees
I’ve always put families and hardworking Americans first. That’s why I called on my Administration to do everything we can to lower costs. Today, the Federal Trade Commission is doing just that by banning hidden junk fees when you book a hotel or purchase event tickets. We all know the experience of encountering a hidden fee at the very last stage of check out—these junk fees sneak onto your bill and companies end up making you pay more because they can. Those fees add up, taking real money out of the pockets of Americans.
Today’s announcement builds on work across my Administration to ban junk fees and lower costs—saving many families hundreds of dollars each year. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lowered overdraft and credit card late fees, the Department of Transportation proposed a ban on family seating fees and required upfront disclosure of baggage and change fees, and the Federal Communications Commission ensured consumers see upfront the full price and terms for their internet service. Wherever big corporations try to sneak fees onto bills, my Administration has been fighting on behalf of American families to ban them.
Statement from President Joe Biden on the FTC Banning Hidden Junk Fees. 12/17/2024.
From the Federal Trade Commission
12/17/2024:
Federal Trade Commission Announces Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees
The Federal Trade Commission today announced a final Junk Fees Rule to prohibit bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and bury junk fees in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries. These unfair and deceptive pricing practices harm consumers and undercut honest businesses.
“People deserve to know up-front what they’re being asked to pay—without worrying that they’ll later be saddled with mysterious fees that they haven’t budgeted for and can’t avoid,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s rule will put an end to junk fees around live event tickets, hotels, and vacation rentals, saving Americans billions of dollars and millions of hours in wasted time. I urge enforcers to continue cracking down on these unlawful fees and encourage state and federal policymakers to build on this success with legislation that bans unfair and deceptive junk fees across the economy.”
The Junk Fees Rule will ensure that pricing information is presented in a timely, transparent, and truthful way to consumers of live-event tickets and short-term lodging, two industries whose pricing practices the Commission has studied in particular. Consumers searching for hotels or vacation rentals or seats at a show or sporting event will no longer be surprised by a pile of “resort,” “convenience,” or “service” fees inflating the advertised price. By requiring up-front disclosure of total price including fees, the rule will make comparison shopping easier, resulting in savings for consumers and leveling the competitive playing field.
The Commission launched this rulemaking in 2022 by requesting public input on whether a rule could help eliminate unfair and deceptive pricing tactics. After receiving more than 12,000 comments on how hidden and misleading fees affected personal spending and competition, the FTC announced a proposed rule in October 2023 and invited a second round of comments. The Commission received more than 60,000 additional comments which it considered in developing the final rule announced today.
The FTC estimates that the Junk Fees Rule will save consumers up to 53 million hours per year of wasted time spent searching for the total price for live-event tickets and short-term lodging. This time savings is equivalent to more than $11 billion over the next decade.
Federal Trade Commission Announces Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees. 12/17/2024.
The Final Rule
The final rule targets specific and widespread unfair and deceptive pricing practices in the sale of live-event tickets and short-term lodging, while preserving flexibility for businesses. It does not prohibit any type or amount of fee, nor does it prohibit any specific pricing strategies. Rather, it simply requires that businesses that advertise their pricing tell consumers the whole truth up-front about prices and fees.
To accomplish this, the Junk Fees Rule requires that businesses clearly and conspicuously disclose the true total price inclusive of all mandatory fees whenever they offer, display, or advertise any price of live-event tickets or short-term lodging. Businesses cannot misrepresent any fee or charge in any offer, display, or ad for live-event tickets or short-term lodging.
In addition, the rule requires businesses to display the total price more prominently than most other pricing information. This means that the most prominent price in an ad needs to be the all-in total price—truthful itemization and breakdowns are fine but should not overshadow what consumers want to know: the real total.
Finally, the rule requires businesses that exclude allowable fees up front to clearly and conspicuously disclose the nature, purpose, identity, and amount of those fees before consumers consent to pay. For instance, businesses that exclude shipping or taxes from the advertised price must clearly and conspicuously disclose those fees before the consumer enters their payment information.
Industries beyond live-event ticketing and short-term lodging are prohibited from deceiving consumers about fees and pricing per longstanding law. The FTC will use its law enforcement authority to continue to rigorously pursue bait-and-switch pricing tactics, such as drip pricing and misleading fees, in other industries through case-by-case enforcement.
The Commission vote approving publication of the final rule was 4-1, with Commissioner Andrew Ferguson dissenting. Chair Lina M. Khan issued a separate statement, as did Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Commissioner Melissa Holyoak issued a concurring statement and Commissioner Andrew Ferguson issued a dissenting statement. The final rule will become effective 120 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
The primary staffers leading development of the final rule are Annette Soberats, Stacy Cammarano, and Karen Mandel in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.
Federal Trade Commission Announces Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees. 12/17/2024.
The next four years will determine whether the incoming administration builds on our economic progress.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 17, 2024
If it does, then 10 or even 50 years from now, U.S. economic leadership will be even stronger than it is today – proving that when the middle class does well, we all do well.
The above tweet comes from his op-ed in The American Prospect…
Through historic investments and record job creation, Joe Biden reflects on his past four years in office, writing that his “middle out, bottom up” approach to economics made an economy “that is stronger for all Americans.” https://t.co/6ZirBHvAWG
— The American Prospect (@TheProspect) December 16, 2024
From the Middle Out and Bottom Up:
Now we are at an inflection point. The next four years will determine whether the incoming administration builds on this strength. If it does, then 10 or even 50 years from now, U.S. economic leadership will be even stronger than it is today—proving that when the middle class does well, we all do well.
From the Middle Out and Bottom Up. 12/16/2024.
This is an open thread
