Credit unions are exempt from the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final rule on unfair or deceptive fees issued this week as the result of strong advocacy from America’s Credit Unions. The final rule focuses on banning hotel and ticket sales fees that are surprise or undisclosed fees, often referred to as “junk fees,” which America’s Credit Unions has worked hard to differentiate from legitimate financial services fees.

“We applaud the FTC for taking credit unions’ concerns into account and issuing a final rule that targets the real unfair and deceptive pricing practices,” said America’s Credit Unions Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt. “This final rule places the appropriate focus on surprise, unavoidable fees that were the original target of regulators’ focus on junk fees. The fees banned in this final rule are very different from the reasonable, well-disclosed fees charged by credit unions, further highlighting the CFPB’s inconsistency in conflating them all as ‘junk fees.’”

America’s Credit Unions wrote to the FTC on the proposed rule urging the FTC to exempt credit unions from the final rule, noting that credit unions are already transparent and reasonable in their use of fees.

As written, the final rule requires affected businesses to:

• Clearly and conspicuously disclose the true total price inclusive of all mandatory fees whenever they offer, display, or advertise any price of live-event tickets or short-term lodging;
• Display the total price more prominently than most other pricing information;
• Clearly and conspicuously disclose the nature, purpose, identity, and amount of allowable fees (such as taxes or shipping) before consumers consent to pay.

The final rule takes effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register.