Sherrill executive order targets hidden fees’ raising consumer costs

This article was reported by NJ State House News Service, a nonprofit publishing partner of NJ Spotlight News.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed an executive order on Monday to combat hidden consumer fees linked to tickets, hotel rooms and financial loans.

“People deserve to see the full price of what they’re buying up front,” Sherrill said. “Every consumer should have that, right? And in New Jersey, they will.”

Executive Order 19 directs state agencies to identify “junk fees,” including those involving bait-and-switch tactics, hidden costs in fine print, misrepresentation and obscure or vague language. The agencies also will propose rulemaking to ensure that all charges are disclosed up front.

The office of Attorney General Jennifer Davenport will send warnings to businesses that some junk fees may violate consumer protection laws.

“You see a good deal” online, Davenport said Monday. “But by the time you click through the website and you’ve gotten to checkout the prices have jumped, thanks to the fees that were hidden from the start. The reality is that convenience fees are anything but convenient.”

Davenport said no one should have to pay for services they no longer want, and should not have to “pay to get paid.”

 “That’s why, for example, we brought a major lawsuit against the lender OneMain Financial, who were charging consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden junk fees for add ons to the loans they sold,” Davenport said Monday. New Jersey was and 12 other states sued Evansville, Ind.-based OneMain, alleging that the personal loan provider was adding deceptive fees.

Information about reporting junk fees, including reporting businesses that charge them, is available from the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.

Affordability was a central part of Sherrill’s election campaign, and she faulted President Donald Trump for not looking out for consumers. His predecessor, Joe Biden, had cracked down on junk fees and other consumer burdens.

 “The Trump administration is actively tearing consumer protection down,” she said.  “It’s taken a sledgehammer to key agencies that were built to protect consumers from fraud, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission,” she said. “I promise to protect our state from the Trump administration and from bad actors trying to take advantage of people.”

Junk fees, Sherrill said,  “hit working families, renters and seniors on a fixed income the hardest. How can you manage a tight budget if no one tells you what things really cost?”