Watch Out! It Is Not Just Excessive Bank Fees
Watch Out! It Is Not Just Excessive Bank Fees
Britain’s consumer watchdog said yesterday it was expanding its inquiry into the fees charged by credit card associations.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it would broaden the scope of its probe into “interchange” fees, which retailers pay to the banks that issue the credit cards.
COMMENT
Everyone is discussing high bank fees and interest rates, but other businesses are becoming fearless in charging excessive fees to their clients also.
BANKS
I think the credit card fees are abuse and should be limited. I transposed the digits on a payment and owed about $5.00 for a particular month's worth of charges. I got charged more than 10 times that amount with fees and interest. Unreal.
CABLE
My cable provider, Comcast is getting wild beyond belief. This past week they are dropping my HBO service if I do not convert to there digital service. There was no mention whether or not they would reduce the fee they charged me. Second, for the first month ever my cable bill which includes TV and Internet services increased from $100.03 to $102.11 without any real explanation. That is what they specialize in is adding increases without any changes in service. I had their uninterrupted service for more than 20 years and it has gone up so many times, I lost count. I started paying $6.50 for TV and it is now more than $54 almost ten times what it was originally for the same stations. Third, they have a $150 fee if you drop service before 2 years are over. I wonder if the monthly fees I have paid them year after year for 20 years have paid for the cable line from the street to my house yet? I think the government committee that approves cable rates has gone asleep. I would drop them if it was not for other family members in the house.
AIRLINES
Have you ever paid an airline fees to change your reservation? These fees can get quite huge. Many things can get out of our personal control such as violent storm are a major traffic accident that ties up traffic big time. Frequently, you can obtain a break, but sometimes you can't. I do not believe that the fee to change a restricted reservation should be more than $25 or $50 tops. Anything more is just abuse. If you came down to it, most airlines would still make money if it was lowered to $10.
MEDICAL DOCTORS
Most of the local doctors have instituted a $25 no show fee if you miss an appointment and do not cancel at least 24 hours in advance. If I had some traffic and was going to be late, I have always kept on travelling and got to my appointment as soon as possible. I don't have a cell phone and you cannot find a working pay phone anymore. I think most doctors overbook anyway and they know from their history that a given percentage of their patients will not show up in time anyway.
I think that health costs are absurd already and I do not need another $25 fee occasionally to pay out. I would always do my best to get to my appointments on time, anyway. I think it would be a deal breaker the first time a doctor tried to charge me that fee and I would go someplace else. Health costs are my biggest bill already and it does not need to get bigger.
SUMMARY
There are a lot of outlandish things occurring today. We have a President that should be impeached but is not. We have the public outraged about the Iraq war and the the President ignores us. We have tens of millions illegal aliens with more coming and there is no real zeal to prosecute those that hire them. Tens of millions of American jobs have been outsourced overseas and nobody is outraged. Hundreds of thousands of American jobs have been outsourced in America with temporary foreign workers (H1B).
Excessive fees are all parcel of all this Republican outrageous behaviour. Businesses are no longer timid about what they do to the middle class Americans. This stuff did not happen overnight. It was gradual, building speed. And Americans did not demonstrate. But they did shock the President and Congress during the November 2006 elections with the Democrats taking the majorities in both the House and the Senate. The American middle class needs to stand up for itself and be heard louder.
Britain’s consumer watchdog said yesterday it was expanding its inquiry into the fees charged by credit card associations.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it would broaden the scope of its probe into “interchange” fees, which retailers pay to the banks that issue the credit cards.
COMMENT
Everyone is discussing high bank fees and interest rates, but other businesses are becoming fearless in charging excessive fees to their clients also.
BANKS
I think the credit card fees are abuse and should be limited. I transposed the digits on a payment and owed about $5.00 for a particular month's worth of charges. I got charged more than 10 times that amount with fees and interest. Unreal.
CABLE
My cable provider, Comcast is getting wild beyond belief. This past week they are dropping my HBO service if I do not convert to there digital service. There was no mention whether or not they would reduce the fee they charged me. Second, for the first month ever my cable bill which includes TV and Internet services increased from $100.03 to $102.11 without any real explanation. That is what they specialize in is adding increases without any changes in service. I had their uninterrupted service for more than 20 years and it has gone up so many times, I lost count. I started paying $6.50 for TV and it is now more than $54 almost ten times what it was originally for the same stations. Third, they have a $150 fee if you drop service before 2 years are over. I wonder if the monthly fees I have paid them year after year for 20 years have paid for the cable line from the street to my house yet? I think the government committee that approves cable rates has gone asleep. I would drop them if it was not for other family members in the house.
AIRLINES
Have you ever paid an airline fees to change your reservation? These fees can get quite huge. Many things can get out of our personal control such as violent storm are a major traffic accident that ties up traffic big time. Frequently, you can obtain a break, but sometimes you can't. I do not believe that the fee to change a restricted reservation should be more than $25 or $50 tops. Anything more is just abuse. If you came down to it, most airlines would still make money if it was lowered to $10.
MEDICAL DOCTORS
Most of the local doctors have instituted a $25 no show fee if you miss an appointment and do not cancel at least 24 hours in advance. If I had some traffic and was going to be late, I have always kept on travelling and got to my appointment as soon as possible. I don't have a cell phone and you cannot find a working pay phone anymore. I think most doctors overbook anyway and they know from their history that a given percentage of their patients will not show up in time anyway.
I think that health costs are absurd already and I do not need another $25 fee occasionally to pay out. I would always do my best to get to my appointments on time, anyway. I think it would be a deal breaker the first time a doctor tried to charge me that fee and I would go someplace else. Health costs are my biggest bill already and it does not need to get bigger.
SUMMARY
There are a lot of outlandish things occurring today. We have a President that should be impeached but is not. We have the public outraged about the Iraq war and the the President ignores us. We have tens of millions illegal aliens with more coming and there is no real zeal to prosecute those that hire them. Tens of millions of American jobs have been outsourced overseas and nobody is outraged. Hundreds of thousands of American jobs have been outsourced in America with temporary foreign workers (H1B).
Excessive fees are all parcel of all this Republican outrageous behaviour. Businesses are no longer timid about what they do to the middle class Americans. This stuff did not happen overnight. It was gradual, building speed. And Americans did not demonstrate. But they did shock the President and Congress during the November 2006 elections with the Democrats taking the majorities in both the House and the Senate. The American middle class needs to stand up for itself and be heard louder.
posted by God Bless America - Bob at 10:15 AM
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