WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – The White House was expected to announce new efforts on Wednesday to reduce credit card late fees and lower prices charged by Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), parent company of Google. mobile app stores.
The move is part of a broader policy to promote competition in consumer markets, officials said.
President Joe Biden was also expected to urge Congress to ban hidden ‘junk fees’ and penalties that a federal consumer watchdog says are seeping into everyday retail services across industries, driving up prices. consumer costs, including the fees airlines charge family members to sit next to young people. children, White House officials said.
Biden beat the drum against inflation, criticizing Republicans who now control the House of Representatives for backing tax measures he said would benefit the wealthy at the expense of middle-class taxpayers.
Biden, who is expected to announce a re-election bid in the coming weeks, also criticized Republicans for refusing to endorse an increase in the US debt ceiling unless there is an agreement on debt cuts. expenses.
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Wednesday’s announcement coincides with a scheduled meeting between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that is expected to mark the start of an extended maneuver to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will propose a rule on Wednesday prohibiting “excessive” fees credit card issuers charge for late payments, which the bureau says costs consumers $12 billion a year.
“When someone misses a credit card payment, even if they’ve only paid a day or two late, or even a few hours, they can be hit with a series of cascading charges,” said the CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to reporters on a call on Tuesday.
Chopra said these fees far outweigh any additional costs incurred by lenders.
The White House estimates the rule should reduce typical late fees by about $30 to $8, saving consumers up to $9 billion a year.
The rule could go into effect in 2024 after a comment period, Chopra said. However, regulations are often challenged and litigated by industry groups who may block or delay them.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an arm of the Commerce Department, also released a report on Wednesday exposing the market dominance enjoyed by Apple and Google in the app economy, where the vast majority of users and smartphone developers are stuck inside. tech giants’ software ecosystems, which the NTIA says drive up costs and limit innovation.
Report calls for greater user control over available apps, an end to platform operators’ “self-preference” for their own apps, and a ban on requiring apps to use systems payment methods integrated into operator applications.
An Apple spokesperson, in a statement, said that while the report “recognizes the importance of user privacy, data security and user convenience”, some of its findings “ignore investments we achieve in innovation, privacy and security”.
Google also disagrees with the report’s findings, saying through a spokesperson that its Android system “offers more choice and competition than any other mobile operating system.”
Meanwhile, the Department for Transport will propose regulations on Wednesday prohibiting airlines from charging family members to be seated next to children aged 13 or under and will disclose on a government dashboard which airlines do not charge no such fee, the White House said.
Wednesday’s announcements will mark the fourth meeting of Biden’s Competition Council, created in 2021 when consumer inflation was at a 40-year high and was widely seen as a political headwind ahead of the mid-elections. term of 2022.
Reporting by Douglas Gillison and David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler, Susan Heavey and Sharon Singleton
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