NEW YORK: Three major retailers - Dollar General Corp, Dollar Tree Inc and Kroger Co - charge consumers more than US$90mil annually via “cash-back” fees charged to access their own funds at a register, a US financial watchdog found.

While the cost to merchants for processing cash-back transactions “may be a few pennies”, fees passed on to consumers are often far higher, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in a report made public.

Among the examples highlighted were Dollar General and Dollar Tree, which charge US$1 or more when customers withdraw less than US$50 in cash.

People living in rural communities or those without nearby bank branches commonly turn to retailers to get cash.

Nearly 19 million people in the United States were “underbanked” in 2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The CFPB said cash is more often used by low-income consumers, racial minorities and older people.

“Many people living in small towns no longer have access to a local bank where they can withdraw money from their account for free,” CFPB director Rohit Chopra said in a statement.

“This has created the competitive conditions for retailers to charge fees for cash back.”

Dollar General provides the cash-back services to customers “who may not have convenient access to their primary financial institution”, a company representative said in an email.

“These services may also help customers save money on fees compared to alternative, non-retail options such as check-cashing locations or ATM fees.”

A representative for Dollar Tree said the merchant charges customers a “clearly disclosed” fee for a “convenient service” that helps offset the costs it incurs to offer it.

A representative for Kroger didn’t respond to a request for comment on the CFPB’s findings.

The Biden administration has been targeting charges added to consumers’ everyday purchases, labelling many of them “junk fees”.

The CFPB has worked with the White House on the issue, in addition to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Transportation.

The CFPB said it also surveyed the retailers: Albertsons Cos, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp, Walmart Inc and Target Corp and that found none of them were found to have charged cash-back fees.

 - Bloomberg