Biden administration touts new rules combatting “junk fees”

President Joe Biden introduced two rules Wednesday morning to penalize businesses adding transaction fees. The first rule proposed through the Federal Trade Commission would require businesses to disclose fees and their purposes upfront instead of tacking them on at the end of transactions. The Consumer Financial Trade Commission drafted the second rule, barring banks from charging consumers for requesting information such as account balances. The White House said the measures will save Americans billions of dollars. Business interests have criticized the rules. Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, called the new rules an “attempt at price controls” that would stifle innovation.

Why is Biden suddenly cracking down on hidden fees? Biden said the push against “junk fees” is part of his 2021 executive order promoting competition. He labeled the rules under his vision of “Bidenomics,” which he described as building the economy “from the middle out…not the top down.”

Dig deeper: Read Todd Vician’s report in WORLD Magazine on another recent Bidenomics measure that would keep medical debts off Americans’ credit reports.