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FleetCor imposed hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden fees, without notifying customers.
Last month, a federal judge ruled in one of the most under-the-radar scams in the business world. Thousands of small and medium-sized businesses were taken advantage of by a company called FleetCor, which provided “discount” gas credit cards. Only there weren’t any discounts at all: The cards were riddled with hidden charges. Despite promising no transaction or annual fees, FleetCor imposed hundreds of millions of dollars in “convenience network surcharges” and “program administration fees,” without notifying customers.
The judge granted summary judgment without a trial, ruling that the practices were unlawful, and that CEO Ronald Clarke was personally responsible. “It is plain that Clarke had actual knowledge of FleetCor’s unlawful practices or, at the very least, that he was recklessly indifferent.” The company has announced that it would appeal the ruling.
FleetCor and Clarke do not have any fines hanging over them for now, despite being found liable. Because of a very stupid Supreme Court ruling last year, the Federal Trade Commission, which filed this case in 2019, cannot return monetary damages to customers through a lawsuit. The FTC can bring administrative action in a way that can trigger restitution, and they did so last year; that has been stayed pending resolution of the lawsuit. The FTC is now seeking a permanent injunction to prohibit FleetCor’s tactics. More than 40 percent of the company’s revenues come from the fuel-card sector.
Clarke, a billionaire, doesn’t seem too worried: He just bought a waterfront mansion for $15.7 million. But the stock is down over 25 percent since May, and it is relatively clear that FleetCor’s days of ripping off small businesses have probably come to an end. And we have someone to thank for that.
When I wrote my book Chain of Title in 2016, one of the main subjects was Lisa Epstein, an oncology nurse who fell victim to foreclosure fraud during the collapse of the housing bubble. She fought back in her case, grew obsessed with the shocking machinations of the big banks, quit her nursing job, and became an activist, helping other foreclosure victims and using a blog to detail the extent of foreclosure fraud. In 2010, she was instrumental in helping shut down the entire foreclosure system temporarily.
Instead of returning to nursing, Lisa became an investigative journalist with a subscription-based site called The Capitol Forum. She had the skills to uncover nefarious activity, and she put them to work. Lisa was the first journalist to really dig into the FleetCor story. In 2018, she quoted a senior-level employee who told her that Clarke called customers “stupid dumbasses” from “southern shithole states.” Clarke personally instituted the hidden fees and obscure disclosures that were a hallmark of the scheme, according to Epstein’s reporting, relying on the expectation that these business owners were too busy to read the fine print. “They are never going to know about the fees and the tiered rebates,” she quoted Clarke telling senior employees. “They are not watching their bills.”
It was Lisa’s work that built up awareness of this story, culminating in the federal ruling and potential injunction and consumer relief. We have her to thank for exposing FleetCor’s practices, just as she exposed the banking industry’s. The nation has a lot of reasons to thank Lisa Epstein for her work.
