WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) – Prime White Home officers and the pinnacle of the Shopper Monetary Safety Bureau (CFPB) on Wednesday will urge states to increase their efforts to crack down on shock charges shoppers are compelled to pay on all the pieces from rental housing to cable payments.
The push is a part of President Joe Biden’s government-wide effort to cut back or remove so-called “junk charges” that jack up prices for shoppers. Some businesses have already taken motion, together with a proposed rule by the CFPB to chop most bank card late charges and a Division of Transportation proposal to require airways to reveal all charges up entrance.
Biden has vowed to maintain attacking the difficulty on the federal degree, however the White Home mentioned on Wednesday that motion by state governments can also be “important” to rid the U.S. economic system of billions of {dollars} in “pointless, unavoidable, or shock prices.”
To spice up their efforts, the White Home will host a digital assembly on Wednesday with a whole lot of state legislators, a few of whom will share actions they’ve taken to cut back or remove junk charges by beefing up enforcement, passing new legal guidelines and even altering their contracts with third-party suppliers.
Newest Updates
View 2 extra tales
It’s going to additionally launch a brand new information that maps out actions states can take.
“These junk charges, which are sometimes not disclosed upfront and solely revealed after a client has determined to purchase one thing, obscure true costs and dilute the forces of market competitors which might be the bedrock of the useconomy,” the information mentioned.
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra will converse on the occasion, which might be livestreamed at 1 p.m., together with Biden’s home coverage adviser Susan Rice and his new prime financial adviser, Lael Brainard, who moved over from the Federal Reserve final month.
In a separate letter dated Tuesday, Housing and City Improvement Secretary Marcia Fudge urged housing suppliers and state and native governments to guard renters from “hidden, duplicative, or pointless charges” that hit these with low and modest incomes the toughest.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Modifying by Bradley Perrett
: .