Atlanta’s Corpay to settle hidden fees lawsuit for $100M
Atlanta-based Corpay, a global corporate payments company, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a long-running lawsuit alleging it charged customers hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden and unwarranted fees, the Federal Trade Commission announced.
The company, which rebranded in 2024 from FleetCor Technologies, was sued by the FTC in 2019 and recently lost its bid to overturn a federal judge’s ruling against it. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a written opinion earlier this year that “the evidence against Corpay is overwhelming.”
The settlement was announced Thursday by the FTC, which said most of the affected customers are small businesses. The commission said Corpay hid fees and misrepresented the benefits of fuel cards and charged late fees to customers who had either paid on time or were prevented by the company from paying on time.
“FleetCor deceived its small business customers by promising fuel savings that never materialized, while unfairly charging them hidden and unauthorized fees,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a news release. “In addition to the relief the FTC has obtained in federal court, this order will help return money to the customers the company took advantage of.”
In its own news release Friday, Corpay said the settlement resolves the case “without any admission of wrongdoing.”
“We are pleased to resolve this matter and move forward,” Corpay CEO and Chairman Ron Clarke said in the release. “Corpay is committed to transparent customer disclosures, consent-based practices, and strong compliance controls across our U.S. Vehicle Payments business.”
In court filings, the company denied the allegations and criticized the commission for what it called “overreach.” It said its business practices are “indisputably lawful.”
“FleetCor presented each customer with a hyperlink to a web page that prominently displayed a customized chart listing each specific feature or program the customer had chosen and each specific fee the customer would incur, as well as all other applicable terms and conditions,” the company wrote in its appeal to the 11th Circuit in November 2023. “And FleetCor required each customer to click a box stating that the customer had read and agreed to the disclosed terms.”
In January, the 11th Circuit upheld a ruling by a federal judge in Atlanta that barred Corpay from putting fee disclosures behind a hyperlink, among other things.
The 11th Circuit’s written opinion noted that around 90% of Corpay’s customers are small or medium-sized businesses, though the company also serves large corporations including FedEx, UPS, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Lowe’s and Sysco.
Corpay reported in August that its projected total revenues for fiscal year 2026 are around $5.3 billion. The publicly traded company says it has more than 800,000 business clients.
The company said Friday it has taken steps over the past several years to enhance customer communications, compliance oversight and internal controls. It said the settlement is not expected to have “a material impact” on its operations or financial results.
“Corpay will continue to cooperate with the FTC as the matter is finalized,” the company said.
The commission accused Corpay of waiting to begin charging many fees until several billing cycles passed, making the fees less noticeable to consumers. Its lawsuit also alleged Corpay’s invoices did not disclose that fees were being charged, requiring customers to proactively view other account management reports.
“Even on those documents, many fees were obscured among other information or not listed at all,” the commission said Thursday.
The commission said it will soon publish information about the settlement in the Federal Register. It said the deal will be subject to public comment for 30 days before it decides whether to finalize the agreement.