FEES! And other financial pet peeves...

[billybob]

Oh, how I hate unneccessary fees...

My gas company (PGW) finally decided to join the 21st century and add online billpay. I used to have to pay over the phone, because i hated mailing in bills.

So get this...
they want a $4.00 fee PER TRANSACTION for this! and to add insult to injury, they also have added that $4 fee to pay by phone as well (which used to be free!)!
I think this is absolutely ludicrous. The only way to avoid the fee is to sign up for them to automatically take it out of your checking account on a set date. I dont like this, but at least I dont have to mail in bills now.

This is truly one of my pet peeves, along with rebates. I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT when institutions make money off of people's laziness and indifference. The fact is, that many, many people will pay this fee because they just dont care about the $4. or they don't even read the fine print. Same with rebates... the way they make money is off of the 90% of people who never get around to filing the rebate, or do it incorrectly.

ATM fees, Ticket surcharges (up to $8 per ticket on ticketmaster!), "convenience" charges... all of these things capitalize on people being lazy and indifferent, and willing to pay for "convenience"...

What are your (financial) pet peeves?

[sweeps]

It would really make me angry if my utility company (or any company for that matter) charged me $4 per transaction to pay them online through my bank. I would pay by check just to spite them.

[katwoman]

I had to renew my license plate sticker. $78 + $4 fee (paid to the currency exchange).

Northen Trust Bank - $25 for not maintaining a 5k balance in their money market account which only gives < 1% interest. I guess it didn't matter that I wrote a check out of that account to buy stock through them and pay their full service fees for that transaction as well!

[34saving]

My biggest financial pet peeve is not knowing what you're going to pay BEFORE you buy something. Hidden fees come in here, but the worst is doctors/dentists and INSURANCE. I never seem to know what I'm really going to end up paying even though I do my due diligence!

[eisor]

College fees!!

$102 athletic fee EACH semester when you NEVER go to any games or use ANY of the atheletic facilities.
$33 transportation fee EACH semester when you NEVER use the parking lots or the buses that go to the parking lots. (Those are the ONLY buses we have).
$5 international education fee EACH semester when you don't study abroad or plan on studying abroad. Why should I pay for someone else's trip???

The total fees charged each semester this year was $413. That is outrageous!

[billybob]

What about those taxes and fees on your cell phone bill?

Federal Excise Tax 1.31
Federal Universal Service Fund 0.74 (What the hell is this?)
State Gross Receipts Tax 2.54 (What?)
State Sales Tax 2.45
State 911 1.00 (why do i pay this when land lines dont?)
Regulatory Programs Fee* 0.86 (again, wha?)
Taxes, Fees and Surcharges 8.90 (Dammit!)

[Tightwad Kitty]

On is the subject of fees, rebate. Our State Government was having trouble with our ambulance memberships and in fact if you weren’t a member you got charge around $700 to go a few blocks to the nearest hospital. So they came up with a LEVY on all electricity bills, only pensioners are exempt on their main resident. Its called Community Ambulance Cover. If you multi electricity bills then you pay multiple levy. It’s around $80 per year each bill. That was the membership fee before. Everyone now gets FREE ambulance cover in the state. You can apply for objection of the levy in writing but you will get charged for one household if you win.

On my phone & Internet bills there is a fees if I don’t pay the way I do now! My Internet is paid via my credit card, which is paid off each month. Saving over $2.00 per bill. Phone bill is at my newsagent each month not at the post office where we can pay all our bills at here. As they’re now charging 50c on each bill paid.

Bank fees are our biggest problem as everything is electronic banking here. Our pays, pensions, shopping, bills, etc are all electronic transaction now. Debit cards are the norm. If you wish to use a check /Cheque book system then you must wait for it to be cleared in 4 working days time or pay a fee of $15 each cheque. Along with bank fee of $5 on each account per month. And if you go to the bank and use a teller for a withdrawal that’s a fee of $4 each time. But you can work it so that you pay no fees or the minimum fees per month with the right system and using the right Banking account too!

I do have old joke letter that sums up this very nicely. Can I post it so you all can read it?

[veronak]

I would pay the .39 to mail it in. I do agree with you it should be free but online/pay by phone is a big money maker and keep in mind that companies pay for this service as well

[CRFSaver]

It actually costs the company less money to accept a payment through an online bill pay then to accept it as a check or credit car payment. An electronic payment will cost the utility at most a penny in bank charge to clear it versus anywhere between 1-10 cents to process a check. The electronic payment will interface directly with their ERP system versus a check going into a lockbox and having to be processed, or into the company and having to be processed and sent via armored car to the bank or 2-3% for a credit card transaction

One of the things you can do is complain to your local Public Utility Commission about an unwarranted fee for collecting payment. Depending on how active your PUC or state or muci is about those things enough complaints could warrant the company having to get rid of it. At 4 bucks a pop that is pure profit for them.