A $100 million settlement between FleetCor (now Corpay Inc.) and the Federal Trade Commission shows the consequences of non-compliance with federal standards for transparency and informed consent. The FTC alleged that FleetCor charged unauthorized fees to small business customers, delaying disclosure and hiding fee details in account management reports rather than invoices.
This case serves as a guide for your compliance team to build or audit fee disclosure and consent workflows.
Scope: What This Guide Covers
This guide addresses FTC Act Section 5 compliance requirements for fee disclosure and customer consent, particularly for organizations that:
- Bill recurring fees to business or consumer customers
- Modify pricing structures after initial enrollment
- Offer multi-tier service packages with optional add-ons
- Process payments through third-party processors or card networks
You'll find requirement breakdowns, implementation steps, and a reference table mapping disclosure obligations to system controls. This guide does not cover GLBA-specific financial privacy requirements or payment card industry data security standards beyond their intersection with consent management.
Key Concepts and Definitions
Express Informed Consent: Affirmative customer agreement to a specific charge, obtained after the customer receives clear information about the amount, frequency, and conditions of that charge. Silence or inaction doesn't constitute consent under FTC standards.
Clear and Unavoidable Information: Disclosure presented in a manner that ensures the customer will encounter and understand it before agreeing to the charge. Information hidden behind hyperlinks, buried in lengthy terms of service, or displayed only in secondary account interfaces doesn't meet this standard.
Material Information: Facts that would likely affect a customer's decision to purchase or continue using a service. For billing purposes, this includes total cost, fee triggers, payment timing, and cancellation terms.
Deceptive Practice: Under FTC Act Section 5, a representation, omission, or practice that's likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances, where that misleading claim is material to the consumer's decision.
Requirements Breakdown
Disclosure Timing Requirements
You must provide fee information before the customer incurs any obligation to pay. In the FleetCor matter, the FTC found violations where the company waited several billing cycles to begin charging fees, making them less noticeable to customers.
Your disclosure timing must ensure:
- All fees are disclosed at point of sale or enrollment
- Any fee changes are communicated before they take effect
- Customers can review complete pricing before each renewal period
- Trial-to-paid conversions include explicit fee disclosure
Disclosure Format Requirements
The federal district court's 2023 summary judgment established that FleetCor's invoices violated FTC Act standards by not disclosing that fees were being charged. Customers had to proactively access separate account management reports, where fees were either obscured among other information or not listed at all.
Your disclosure format must:
- Present fees on primary billing documents (invoices, statements)
- Avoid requiring customers to navigate to secondary interfaces
- Display fee line items with clear descriptions, not generic codes
- Ensure visibility without scrolling or expanding collapsed sections
Consent Documentation Requirements
Express informed consent means you can demonstrate that the customer agreed to a specific charge after receiving adequate information. Your consent records should capture:
- What information was displayed to the customer
- When the customer viewed that information
- What action the customer took to indicate agreement
- The specific charges the customer authorized
Pre-checked boxes, auto-renewals without re-confirmation, and bundled consent for multiple unrelated charges create enforcement risk.
Prohibition on Deceptive Claims
The court found that FleetCor made deceptive claims about gas savings and fees associated with its fuel cards. Your marketing and sales materials must:
- Substantiate any savings claims with verifiable data
- Disclose conditions that would prevent promised savings
- Avoid implying fee structures that differ from actual billing
- Correct any customer misunderstandings discovered during onboarding
Implementation Guidance
System Controls for Fee Transparency
Map your billing system architecture to identify where fees are calculated, displayed, and charged. Your control points should include:
Enrollment workflow: Configure your signup process to display a complete fee schedule before the customer submits payment information. Require an affirmative action (checkbox, signature field) specifically for fee acknowledgment, separate from general terms acceptance.
Invoice generation: Ensure your billing system includes all fees as distinct line items on customer-facing invoices. If your current system uses internal codes or consolidated line items, you'll need to modify templates or migrate to a platform that supports granular disclosure.
Fee change notifications: Build automated alerts that trigger when pricing rules change in your billing system. These alerts should initiate a customer communication workflow and prevent charges under new fee structures until you've documented customer acknowledgment.
Consent audit trail: Implement logging that captures the fee schedule version displayed during enrollment, the timestamp of customer acceptance, and the IP address or session identifier. Store these records for the longer of your customer relationship duration or your document retention policy period.
Sales and Marketing Review Process
Establish a quarterly review of customer-facing materials that mention pricing, savings, or fees. Your review checklist should verify:
- Savings claims reference specific comparison points (retail prices, competitor rates)
- Promotional materials don't contradict fee disclosures in enrollment workflows
- Sales scripts and training materials align with documented fee structures
- Customer testimonials or case studies don't imply fee waivers that aren't generally available
Customer Service Escalation Protocols
Train your support team to identify situations where customers report unexpected fees or claim they didn't authorize charges. Your escalation protocol should:
- Flag accounts where customers dispute fee authorization for compliance review
- Document the customer's understanding of what they agreed to pay
- Preserve records of the enrollment workflow the customer completed
- Escalate patterns of similar disputes to your legal or compliance function
Common Pitfalls
Hyperlink disclosure: Displaying fee details only through a "see pricing" or "view terms" link doesn't meet clear and unavoidable information standards. The FleetCor court found that requiring customers to proactively access separate reports violated FTC requirements.
Delayed fee implementation: Starting some fees after initial billing cycles to make them "less noticeable" (as the FTC alleged in the FleetCor complaint) creates both deception and unauthorized charge risks. All fees must be disclosed upfront, regardless of when billing begins.
Invoice opacity: Generic line items like "service fees" or "account charges" without itemization don't provide the specificity required for informed consent. Your invoices should name each fee and reference the rate or calculation method.
Bundled consent: Combining fee authorization with general terms acceptance or privacy policy acknowledgment makes it difficult to demonstrate express informed consent to specific charges. Use separate consent mechanisms for billing obligations.
Preventing timely payment: The FTC alleged that FleetCor charged late fees to customers who had paid on time or were prevented by FleetCor from paying on time. If your payment processing creates obstacles to on-time payment, you can't then penalize customers for late payment.
Quick Reference Table
| Requirement | System Control | Documentation Standard | Enforcement Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-enrollment fee disclosure | Fee schedule display in signup workflow before payment submission | Screenshot of enrollment screens with timestamp and version control | High, direct violation of express informed consent requirement |
| Invoice itemization | Billing system configured to list each fee as separate line item with description | Invoice templates reviewed quarterly; audit log of template changes | High, federal court found FleetCor invoices violated FTC Act |
| Fee change notification | Automated alert triggered by pricing rule modifications in billing system | Customer communication records with delivery confirmation and acknowledgment tracking | Medium, depends on materiality of change and customer impact |
| Savings claim substantiation | Marketing approval workflow requiring data source citation for any comparative claims | Research data, competitor pricing records, or third-party verification reports | Medium, deceptive claim finding in FleetCor matter |
| Consent audit trail | Session logging capturing fee schedule version, acceptance timestamp, customer identifier | Immutable logs retained for customer lifetime plus statute of limitations period | High, inability to prove consent defeats defense in enforcement action |
| Hyperlink prohibition | Fee information displayed inline, not behind links requiring customer action | User experience testing records showing fee visibility without navigation | Medium, clear standard from FleetCor court findings |
The FleetCor settlement resulted in $100 million in redress to harmed business customers. Your compliance program's value isn't just avoiding penalties; it's ensuring your revenue model can withstand regulatory scrutiny. Build disclosure and consent controls that would survive summary judgment, not just pass an internal audit.
