Fee

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Fee (disambiguation).

Fee slips for a university college.

A fee is the

court case
is lost by the attorney.

A service fee, service charge, or surcharge is a fee added to a customer's bill. The purpose of a service charge often depends on the nature of the product and corresponding service provided. Examples of why this fee is charged are: travel time expenses, truck rental fees, liability and workers' compensation insurance fees, and planning fees. UPS and FedEx have recently begun surcharges for fuel.

Restaurants and

flat fee or a variable one, or part of a two-part tariff. A membership fee is charged as part of a subscription business model
.

Telecom

For telecommunications services such as

advertised
price, resulting in customer missperception on assessment and validity of the fees. An activation fee is prevalent throughout the cellphone industry and is generally assessed to cover costs of line activations and enhancements to networks.

Another fee is the early-termination fee applied nearly universally to cellphone contracts, supposedly to cover the remaining part of the

prorated
.

Many cable TV and

U.S. law
.

Banking

For further information, see
Credit card fee
.

Bank fees are assessed to customers for various services and as penalties. There are

unauthorised overdraft fees, ATM usage fees, and fees for having an account balance below the minimum daily balance. Some banks charge a fee for using tellers in an effort to encourage customers to use automated services instead.[1]
The fees have come in for criticism as excessive from consumer advocates. They have also targeted bank practices that maximize the assessment of fees and fees that can add up to many times the amount of small transactions.

U.S. banks extract fees from

account balance at a "foreign" (other banks') ATMs.[citation needed
]

Following the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 and legislation passed by Congress, banks modified many credit card
agreements with customers.

Renting

Like an activation fee, a setup fee is often charged by places that

self-storage businesses, this negates claims of "only one dollar for the first month" made by Public Storage and others. Apartment complexes often charge fees for pets (mainly dogs and cats). Some complexes euphemistically call these a non-refundable deposit, ignoring the definition of a deposit
as inherently being refundable.

Real estate

Main article:
Closing cost

A

credit report
, record deed, record deed trust, loan signing and processing.

Event tickets

With respect to

concert venues
.

Air travel

Airlines have long charged fees for changing

oil price increases since 2003
, many are increasing fees. In May 2008, it was announced that some would be charging even for just one checked bag, making it nearly impossible to avoid. Airlines have also invented fees for nearly every "service" that has always previously been included in the ticket price. While the extra income may be necessary to prevent bankruptcy, the practice of not including mandatory fees in the stated price is deceptive.

Airports also charge landing fees to airlines in order to cover costs, particularly airport security.

Customer service

Some businesses charge fees just for talking to a

North America). In the 2000s (decade), some banks in the U.S. began charging a fee just to visit a teller, prompting such customer anger that the banks were forced to back down.[citation needed
]

Speaking

Main article: Speaking fee

A speaking fee is a payment awarded to an individual for speaking at a public event.

Late fees

Main article: Late fee

Late fees are charged when payment is not received by a deadline. These are supposedly intended to get people to pay rent or other charges on time, but these are sometimes exorbitant, or extremely out of proportion to the amount of money which is late. They can also add insult to injury for people who have hit hard financial times, making their situation worse. When added to credit card bills or check card statements, it may also cause an overlimit or NSF fee, creating an endless and inescapable cycle of fees that trigger other fees for people already stretched to their financial limit.

Retail

Some retail stores add fees, mainly for "guest passes" at

membership warehouses like Costco and Sam's Club, where membership dues
have not been paid.

There are a few other "cost-plus" stores, however, that add about ten percent at

bait and switch. (Furthermore, a disclaimer
indicates the shelf price is not even the actual cost to the store.)

Early termination

An early-termination fee is charged by a company when a customer wants or needs to be released from a contract before it

expires. One example is when a renter leaves an apartment before a year-long contract is over. If tenants rent for a shorter period, or month-to-month, they are instead charged significantly more per month, and are often denied any promotional deals. Mobile phone companies in the U.S. are notorious for huge early-termination fees, typically starting at $175, and falling by only a few dollars per month, no matter the actual cost of or subsidy
to the phone.

Some

homeowner pays more than is due in order to reduce the interest
owed and to shorten the remaining term of the loan. The fees typically negate this advantage at least in part.

There are also fees charged for any type of termination even if the contract was expired. In the

trash collectors in November 2008. The two companies charged this both in violation of county law and in breach of contract
.

Infrastructure and environment

An

capital improvements to roads, libraries, and other services upon which the new land development places a burden. This prevents existing residents from being forced to pay in taxes, in addition to already having to put-up with the traffic, noise
, and environmental damage of the new development.

Government

In government, the difference between a fee and a tax is that a fee is paid for specific goods or services rendered by the government, while a tax has no connection to the benefits received for an individual.[2]

Public resources

A user fee is a fee paid for the use of a public resource, like a park. This is most common for national parks, and often also state parks or provincial parks, and for privately owned areas.

Licenses and permits

Fees are usually charged for various government services, including

runoff
, destroying native vegetation, and cutting-down healthy trees.

Deceptive use

Sometimes fee is used to mask what are actually penalties or taxes. For example, Virginia's now-repealed Civil Remedial Fees were actually a tax on drivers with certain kinds of traffic law violations[citation needed].

Schooling

At

credit hour. However, the term student fees typically refers to additional charges which the student is required to pay, typically no matter how many hours the student is taking in the academic term
.

Commonly this is a student activity fee, which helps to fund

ill
.

dorms, and some force freshmen to stay in the dorms. Generally, all fees except parking are covered under scholarships, whether they are from private, government, or lottery funds. However, at least one U.S. state (Georgia) began denying HOPE Scholarship
money for any new fees added, even by its own state schools.

Services Charge in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Services Charge is a type of consumer and additional add-on fee and charge which is in place in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong restaurants and food outlets to cover the cost of the primary services and all staff costs. The services charge in these territories is 10 per cent. Services fee and charge is collected by the private company restaurant and is not a government tax.

Legal Requirement

It is legal to charge Services Charges in restaurant and food outlets under Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong laws. However, restaurants and food outlets in these territories must legally disclose the charge/fee to customers who dine at the venue. Refusing or declining to disclose to customers an additional services charge is illegal under consumer law. Restaurants could face heavy fines or a warning.

Circumstances

In normal circumstances in other countries the services fee charges of 10% is included in the price of the meal. The disadvantage is that this can create misunderstanding and confusion for some people. In the United States of America, restaurant add on services charge is optional, because it has a tipping system. When the customer tips the restaurant it become a form of services fee.

Australia

In Australia the restaurant and food outlet services charge add on is included in the price of the food meals. However some restaurants and food outlets make additional services charges on public holiday and Sundays, known as public holidays surcharge. The public holiday surcharge in Australia can range from 10% to 15% to cover the cost of staff working on holidays or weekends.

Hidden fees

Hidden fees, surprise fees or junk fees are fees that are not mentioned until payment is required, or only mentioned in

small print. Examples include resort fees. These are illegal in some countries.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ Meier, Barry (27 April 1995). "Need a Teller? A Big Bank Plans $3 Fee". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  2. ^ Taxes versus fees Archived October 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Plautz, Jessica (December 24, 2014). "Travel watchdog warns vacationers about resort fees hidden in the small print". Mashable. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Calder, Simon (March 23, 2018). "Trump Brings Illegal US-Style 'Resort Fees' to UK For First Time". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
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