Americans pay billions in "junk fees" every year. Here are some of the worst.
CBSN
Lauren Wolfe said she first noticed "resort fees" in 2016 during a vacation in Key West, Florida. She'd paid $400 a night for a hotel room during the peak season, but was stunned when the hotel declined to hand over her room key unless she paid an extra $20 a day to cover a resort fee.
"It's just a cash grab by the hotel," said Wolfe, a lawyer who was spurred by her experience to start a site called Kill Resort Fees aimed at alerting consumers about the hidden charge and helping them take action. She's also the counsel for Travelers United, an advocacy group for travelers.
In her view, consumers are misled by the fees because they aren't typically disclosed when they book a room. It's difficult to determine the true cost of lodging when all the fees aren't presented up front, she noted.
President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.