The Price You See, the Charges That Follow: Junk Fees and Subscriptions Services in 2026

Timothy A. Butler, Shareholder | Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Timothy A. Butler began his career in consumer protection as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and later served as a senior official in the Georgia Attorney General’s Office. He has since led the defense of dozens of government investigations and enforcement actions brought by the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys general. A shareholder in the Atlanta and Silicon Valley offices of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, builds advertising and marketing compliance programs and defends consumer class actions alleging false advertising and unfair or deceptive business practices, along with privacy claims and complex business disputes.

• Education & Credentials

Tim earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Chicago, and he clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds the IAPP’s Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) certifications.

He is admitted in California and Georgia and before the Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of California and the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Tim is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for 2023–2027, including FinTech Practice for 2023–2027 and Privacy and Data Security Law for 2027. Georgia Trend Magazine named him to its “Legal Elite” in 2024, and he was a team member for Benchmark Litigation’s “Georgia Firm of the Year” in 2025 and 2026. Since 2022, he has served on the Publications Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

• Professional Involvement

Tim speaks regularly to industry and trade groups about developments at the FTC, the CFPB, and within the state attorney’s general community, as well as the evolving privacy landscape and issues facing payments and fintech companies. He provides ongoing commentary on FTC and privacy law developments as a contributor to the Data Privacy Dish Blog and the Financial Services Observer Blog, writes frequently on regulatory topics, and appeared at the Money Transmitter Regulators Association (MTRA) 2024 Annual Conference and School.

He is a member of the Federal Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Atlanta Bar Association, and the International Association of Privacy Professionals, as well as the Stanford Alumni Club of Atlanta and the University of Chicago Alumni Club of Atlanta.

• Experience

As an FTC attorney from 2013 to 2015, Tim obtained a $40 million settlement for the agency following an investigation of false advertising practices by a wireless-phone service provider. He also represented the FTC in a first-of-its-kind investigation and prosecution of a payment processor for assisting and facilitating violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, which resulted in a settlement of more than $3.4 million. From 2015 to 2017, he served as Counsel for Legal Policy and Deputy Solicitor General in the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

In private practice, Tim has counseled clients across the federal and state laws governing advertising and marketing practices, data privacy and cybersecurity, and consumer financial products and services. His consumer protection matters include a settlement for a human resources firm in an action brought by Georgia’s attorney general, a partial dismissal for a financial services firm in an action brought by Virginia’s attorney general, a complete dismissal of claims alleging consumer protection violations through misuse of aggregated real estate appraisal and insurance data, and settlements in a series of business-to-business disputes over discrepancies in reported results for targeted advertising services.

His regulatory defense work also includes an order from the Fifth Circuit quashing a CFPB civil investigative demand; no-action positions from the CFPB in investigations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and of a mortgage broker’s compliance with the MAPS Rule (Reg N), the MARS Rule (Reg O), and the CFPA’s UDAAP prohibition; a favorable settlement in a data breach class action involving a web application vulnerability that affected more than 600,000 consumers, with a no-action position from the FTC in the parallel investigation; and a settlement for a payments company in a data breach investigation brought by Massachusetts’s attorney general. He has also represented numerous amici curiae, including the Georgia attorney general, other state attorneys general, the Washington Legal Foundation, and former secretaries of the U.S. Department of the Interior, in petition-stage and merit-stage briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court. The matters in this section other than the amicus work were handled before he joined Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

Matthew M. White, Associate | Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Matthew M. White helps clients navigate government investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys general, and represents them in related regulatory and civil investigations and litigation. An associate in the Atlanta office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, he counsels fintech and payments companies on regulatory compliance and helps them develop products and functionalities built to meet regulatory requirements.

• Education & Credentials

Matt received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Mercer University School of Law, where he was a member of the Mercer Law Review, and his B.A., cum laude, from The University of Georgia. He is admitted to practice in Georgia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Matt is listed in The Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch” for Banking and Finance Law in 2027 and was named a Georgia Super Lawyers “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine for 2025–2026. He was also a team member for Benchmark Litigation’s “Georgia Firm of the Year” in 2025 and 2026.

• Professional Involvement

Matt writes regularly about regulatory issues and provides ongoing analysis of regulatory developments. His published articles include “Parsing Maryland’s Earned Wage Access Products Guidance,” “Total Stay Of CFPB Small Biz Data Rule Is Boon To Lenders,” and “A Lender’s Guide To CFPB’s New Small Business Rule,” and he appeared at the Money Transmitter Regulators Association (MTRA) 2024 Annual Conference and School.

• Experience

Matt has counseled fintech and payments companies on compliance with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Truth in Lending Act, along with their implementing Regulations E, V, P, and Z, and he has advised on prepaid cards and related compliance under the CFPB’s Prepaid Rule. He has helped clients develop compliant products and functionalities, including an earned wage access program, reimbursement prepaid card programs, new merchant cash advance products, and tokenized payment capabilities.

In connection with the products he advises on, Matt has negotiated high-stakes technology sales agreements raising complex regulatory issues, including compliance with data privacy laws, financial regulations, and card network rules. From 2020 to 2021, he served as Assistant General Counsel at FleetCor Technologies, Inc. as a full-time secondee.

His work also includes representing PWCC Marketplace, LLC, PWCC Services, LLC, and PWCC Vault, LLC in connection with senior secured credit facilities of up to $175 million from WhiteHawk Capital Partners, LP and Wingspire Capital LLC. Before joining Greenberg Traurig, he represented pro bono clients, including helping a federal inmate assaulted by a prison guard obtain a settlement.

Cody B. Davis, Associate | Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Cody B. Davis advises clients on consumer protection, data privacy, and regulatory compliance matters in the financial technology sector, with a focus on payments, emerging platforms, and evolving regulatory frameworks. An associate in the Atlanta office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, he works with companies navigating complex federal and state requirements, including regulatory compliance, government investigations, and risk management across the fintech ecosystem.

• Education & Credentials

Cody earned his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 2024 and his B.A. from the University of Florida in 2020. He is admitted to practice in Georgia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Cody was a Ryan Noah Smith Memorial Scholar at Duke University School of Law and graduated cum laude from the University of Florida.

• Professional Involvement

Recent insights listed on Cody’s firm profile follow the FTC’s consumer protection activity, including the FTC’s price transparency FAQs for auto dealers (September 25, 2026), the FTC’s $2.1 million settlement with bill payment firm Doxo (September 16, 2026), and the FTC’s new channel for questions about its consumer protection rules (September 30, 2026). They also cover California’s SB 1050, which requires disclosures of AI “synthetic performers” in advertising (September 24, 2026).

• Experience

Cody’s practice concentrates on data privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection laws; government investigations and regulatory enforcement matters; fintech, payments, and regulatory compliance; and technology transactions and commercial agreements. He also has prior experience advising health care clients on mergers and acquisitions and on compliance with HIPAA, state telehealth rules, and facility licensure requirements.

Before entering practice, Cody served as a legal extern in the Office of Counsel at Duke University Health System in 2024 and as a judicial intern to the Hon. Embry Kidd of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 2022.

SESSION 1 – Junk fees: The Price You See: Junk Fees and Pricing Transparency in 2026 | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

The FTC’s ticketing and short-term lodging rule; broader state and local pricing laws; FTC and states actions alleging junk fees; examples of complaint and risky price displays.

This session walks through the price a customer sees, from the first advertised number to the final checkout screen. It opens with the FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 C.F.R. Part 464, in effect since May 12, 2025, which requires sellers of live-event tickets and short-term lodging to show the total price up front and to explain the nature and purpose of any charge left out of it. From there, it maps the broader state and local pricing laws, such as California’s Honest Pricing Law and Minnesota’s junk fee statute, that reach far beyond tickets and lodging and can impose stricter display requirements than the federal rule.

The discussion then turns to enforcement, viewed from the regulator’s side of the table: how the FTC and state attorneys general build junk-fee cases, what the StubHub and Hopper settlements reveal about the theories they bring, and which facts tend to drive monetary relief and injunctive terms. Attorneys will work through examples of complaint and risky price displays, including drip pricing, pre-selected add-ons, and fees labeled as “service” or “convenience” charges, and learn how to respond when a civil investigative demand or warning letter arrives. Attendees will leave with a method for auditing a price display and a clear sense of where a client’s checkout sits on the risk spectrum.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Subscriptions: The Charges That Keep Coming — Subscription Offers, Renewals, and Cancellation | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

Offer language, consent, free trials, renewal notices, cancellation flows, and a practical review of a customer journey.

This session follows the customer journey after the price is accepted, from the first offer screen through the free trial, the first renewal charge, and the attempt to cancel. It covers how to draft offer language that clearly discloses the material terms of a recurring charge, how to capture express informed consent before billing, and how to structure free trials and introductory pricing so that the conversion to a paid plan is never a surprise. The framework draws on the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, the FTC’s negative option enforcement, state automatic renewal laws, and New York City’s Click-to-Cancel requirements and their October 2026 deadline.

The session also brings the payments perspective into the room. Recurring charges run on payment rails with their own rules, so the discussion covers preauthorized electronic fund transfers under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, card network rules, and how product and engineering teams can build consent, reminder, and cancellation features that satisfy regulators from the start. It closes with a practical, screen-by-screen review of a sample customer journey, flagging where renewal notices, retention offers, and cancellation flows tend to fail. Attendees will leave with drafting language for offers and consent, a renewal-notice checklist, and a method for auditing a client’s full subscription flow.