Death, Taxes & Fees...$943 Per Year On Average

An interesting article on fees.

Fees used to be an occasional expense, an additional charge in exchange for an additional service. But in recent years, they’ve become a common way for companies and governments to juice up revenue without raising the price that everybody sees.

Consumers still pay more, of course, and the extra fees make it harder to do comparison shopping, which may be one objective. Last month, my electric retailer added a $5 monthly fee but kept the same variable-rate formula for calculating the bill. Try figuring out how that affects kilowatt costs — and whether a switch is warranted.

A 2006 study by the Ponemon Institute estimated that Americans were paying an average of almost $943 a year in fees, with the biggest amounts going to banks and credit card companies.

Click the image above to read the full article.