have you ever noticed that your phone or cable bill or the price you paid for your dream vacation may be higher than you expected that may be due to extra fees tacked on to the original charge while most consumers expect to pay specific fees for the services they use there may be additional charges added on that they may not necessarily be aware of at the time they signed up these are called hidden or undisclosed fees which may be a one time charge and may appear in fine print on a contract these are charged by a variety of companies such as banks credit cards cellphone cable and internet providers brokers and insurance firms and those in the travel industry 
hidden fees can cost consumers billions of dollars a year and in turn make big profits for corporations and are usually regulated at the state and federal level according to a 2016 report from the national economic council these fees can often be deceptive because they muddy the purchase price for consumers the report states that fees have steadily increased in the airline hotel and related industries example of a hidden feefor example one hotel may charge travelers 110 per night but if you re looking for a deal you may opt for cheaper accommodations at another hotel at a rate of 100 per night but there may be a 10 resort fee at the time of booking or even at a later date these charges are not typically part of the price advertised some hotels will justify these fees for amenities like swimming pools or gym access even though the cost may be the same in the end the 100 per night rate may still be attractive to the consumer despite the hidden fee securities traders may face multiple fees and expenses it is important to carefully study the fee schedule before trading to avoid losing profits the bottom linefees are an unpleasant but expected part of transactional relationships especially when there are additional charges by third parties while some additional costs are to be expected for various services the abuse of hidden fees is a potentially unethical way of squeezing extra revenue from unsuspecting customers fee faqshoa fees are charged by a homeowner s association to pay for maintenance of public areas security and other services to improve the neighborhood they may also be used to remunerate elected hoa officials and to defray legal costs as of may 31 2021 paypal transactions and donations are free for senders in the united states most merchant fees are 2 9 but they are slightly lower for qr code transactions there are additional fees for international transactions 1 5 and fixed fees for currency transactions there is a separate fee schedule for cryptocurrency transactions which cost between 1 5 and 2 3 in addition to the normal cost spread a retainer fee is an upfront payment to engage a lawyer consultant accountant or other professional a typical retainer fee does not represent the final cost of the transaction the specialist may return money from the retainer if the work finishes early or bill additional time if the retainer is insufficient fee simple is a term in real estate referring to full and irrevocable ownership of an area of land and any buildings on it this is the highest form of real estate ownership recognized by law when a landowner in fee simple dies their land is divided among their heirs a balance transfer fee is the cost of transferring debt from one lender to another or in other words the cost of using one loan to pay another balance transfer fees are common in credit cards many of which have low introductory rates a typical balance transfer fee ranges from 1 3 a loan origination fee is an additional fee charged by lenders to pay for the costs of executing a loan a typical origination fee is 0 5 to 1 of the total loan value and is used to defray the cost of processing underwriting and executing a loan contract a rehoming fee is a fee charged by animal shelters or owners for the adoption of an animal in addition to defraying the costs of food and veterinary care a high rehoming fee can prevent animals from being used for unethical purposes 