Stealth fees are the costs that aren’t included in the sticker price. Chances are, you have plenty of experience with them, even if you didn’t know their name. Take a standard $34.99 monthly cell phone plan, for example. That price conveniently omits about $10 worth of monthly surcharges, taxes and fees. (Also not included: the extra charges for each text message, the whopping per-minute cost if you exceed your monthly allowance and the per-megabyte charge for downloading data from the Internet.)<\/p>\n
Sometimes stealth fees can\u2019t be avoided. But taking these four steps can soften their impact on your wallet:<\/p>\n
The low price of an ink-jet printer sounds tempting, for example \u2026 but it doesn\u2019t include the often high cost of the cartridges that will need to be replaced periodically. And that bargain hotel rate probably doesn\u2019t include parking or Internet access.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re going to use that printer infrequently, and for small jobs, you won\u2019t have to replace the cartridges very often, so it may be a genuine bargain. But if you\u2019re going to use it often, for big jobs, a higher-priced laser printer might be a less expensive purchase in the long run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The low hotel rate is a true bargain if you use your cell phone rather than the room phone to make calls, don\u2019t intend to use the mini-bar, go online or rent a movie. But if you do plan to use those extras, ask what they\u2019ll cost so you can factor them into the price.<\/p>\n
For example, some hotels now charge $9.95 to $19.95 a day for Internet access, a mini-bar \u2018restocking\u2019 fee of $2.95 to $5.95 a day once the first item has been removed, and a \u2018tray charge\u2019 of $5.95 for room service. With a little comparison-shopping, you might find that you\u2019d be better off staying at a hotel that charges more for a room but less for the extra services you\u2019ll need, or includes them as part of a package deal.<\/p>\n
A little research can pay off. It\u2019s smart to comparison-shop online to find out what vendors charge for comparable products and services\u2014and it\u2019s very easy. Sites like PriceGrabber.com<\/a> and Yahoo! Shopping<\/a> make it simple to find the best price on everything from gadgets to groceries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sometimes it\u2019s cheaper to buy an item online, but not always. If you do<\/i> decide to buy online, don\u2019t forget to factor in the shipping costs when you compare prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before you start comparison-shopping, make a short list of what\u2019s really essential to you, and what would be nice but isn\u2019t mandatory. If you\u2019re going on a business trip, for example, your hotel \u2018must-haves\u2019 might include close proximity to the airport, a short taxi ride to your meeting place, and a 24-hour business center with Internet access and a fax machine. Free access to the hotel swimming pool and gym might be attractive extras. On the other hand, if you\u2019re going away for a long vacation weekend, the hotel\u2019s swimming pool is more important than its business center.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the American Bankers Association, more than half of all consumers have at least one recurring expense automatically billed to a debit\/credit card or bank account. Those recurring charges often escape people\u2019s notice. Are you paying $14.95 a month for a restaurant discount you never use or $25 a year for a magazine you no longer read? Are you paying for a premium cable package with 150 channels you never watch? If so, cancel it!<\/p>\n Take a look at the monthly fees on your cell phone bill, too. Do you really need insurance on your phone? Is it worthwhile to pay extra for a customized ringtone? Are you being charged a monthly fee for Internet access you hardly ever use?<\/p>\n Stealth fees can add up. As a smart consumer, you can reduce your expenses by making sure you pay reasonable charges for what you need\u2014and stop paying for what you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stealth fees are the costs that aren’t included in the sticker price. Chances are, you have plenty of experience with them, even if you didn’t know their name. Take a standard $34.99 monthly cell phone plan, for example. That price conveniently omits about $10 worth of monthly surcharges, taxes and fees. (Also not included: the extra charges for each text message, the whopping per-minute cost if you exceed your monthly allowance and the per-megabyte charge for downloading data from the Internet.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"4 Steps to Take to Avoid Stealth Fees | Quicken","_seopress_titles_desc":"Stealth fees are the costs that aren't included in the sticker price. Chances are, you have plenty of experience with them, even if you didn't know their name.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budgeting-savings"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2629,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126\/revisions\/2629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}4. Read your bills carefully.<\/h2>\n