Paid Mystery Fees on a Business Fuel Card? The FTC's $100 Million FleetCor Settlement Is Open for Comment

$213 million. That’s what the Federal Trade Commission figured FleetCor collected through unfair late fees alone, according to the federal appeals court that upheld the agency’s case in January ^[3]. Now the company, which renamed itself Corpay, and its CEO, Ronald Clarke, have agreed to pay $100 million to settle a separate FTC administrative action, with the money set aside to repay business customers ^{[1, 2]}. If your trucks, vans or service vehicles ever ran on a FleetCor fuel card, this one is about you.

What changed this week

The FTC announced the deal on Sept. 17 ^[2]. The commission voted 1-0-1 to accept it, with Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson recused ^[2]. The company changed its name from FleetCor in 2024 and sells cross-border payment and commercial card services alongside fuel cards ^[4]. On Sept. 22, the proposed consent order went into the Federal Register for 30 days of public comment, closing Oct. 22 ^[1].

The notice describes a five-count complaint. It says the company “unfairly charged their customers, who overwhelmingly are small businesses, a variety of unauthorized fees,” including late fees on bills paid on time, and misrepresented the gas savings, fraud controls and fees of its cards ^[1]. The FTC’s release says the fees reached tens of thousands of customers and totaled hundreds of millions of dollars ^[2].

The proposed order has five provisions. The ones that matter to you ^[1]:

• $100 million paid to the FTC as monetary relief.
• Customer information turned over so the FTC can “efficiently administer consumer redress,” which is agency-speak for refunds.
• A 20-year term for the order, as long as the company meets its obligations.

Clarke also agreed not to oppose reinstating the federal court injunction against him, minus two pieces tied to the one count the appeals court threw out ^[1]. Once an order like this is final, each violation can carry a civil penalty of up to $53,088 ^[2].

How a 2019 lawsuit ended up here

The FTC sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Dec. 20, 2019 ^[3]. The district court sided with the agency in 2022 and entered a permanent injunction in 2023 ^[1]. Then the Eleventh Circuit, in a January 2026 opinion that opens with “All fur coat and no knickers,” upheld the judgment against Corpay on all five counts ^[3]. “The evidence against Corpay is overwhelming,” the court wrote ^[3]. It upheld four counts against Clarke and vacated the fifth, about “Fuel Only” ads ^[3].

So why a second, administrative case for the money? The court opinion explains it. In 2021, the Supreme Court held in AMG Capital Management v. FTC that the law the FTC used to sue doesn’t allow monetary relief, so the trial court granted Corpay’s motion on that point ^[3]. The injunction survived, but refunds had to come some other way. This settlement is that other way.

Corpay, for its part, said the deal resolves the case without any admission of wrongdoing and isn’t expected to have a material impact on its operations or results, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported ^[5]. The company had called the FTC’s case overreach in court filings and says it has improved its disclosures and controls ^[5].

What the fees actually looked like

The court record gets specific, which is useful if you’re trying to match a line on an old statement ^[3]:

• Fraud Protector: $3 per card per month (up to $300) for accounts with 10 or more cards, or $15 per account per month for 9 or fewer.
• Accelerator Rewards: $4 per card per month.
• FleetAdvance and FleetDash: $29.97 a month.
• Clean Advantage Program: 5 cents per gallon to “offset” emissions.
• Convenience Network Surcharge: up to the greater of 10 cents a gallon or $2.50 per transaction at certain sites.
• High Risk, or “Level 2,” pricing: up to 20 cents a gallon under the terms, applied to customers who met any of several triggers.

Customers were enrolled in the first three by default unless they opted out after a 60-day free trial ^[3]. Invoices showed only a total; the itemized fees sat in a separate Fuel Management Report, sometimes labeled “Misc.” ^[3]. The FTC’s phone survey found 37.90% of customers had been charged late fees despite paying on time, a survey Corpay’s experts disputed ^[3].

The ads had their own problem. A card advertised at 5 cents a gallon in savings delivered an average of 0.1 cent, according to the FTC’s analyst ^[3].

Does this apply to you?

You’re likely in the group if your business used a FleetCor card, including Fuelman, its Mastercard fuel cards or cards co-branded with fuel brands like BP, Speedway and Arco ^[3]. The court noted that 90-95% of customers were small and medium-sized businesses, about 75% had 10 or fewer cards, and the company’s own training materials described owners who don’t think of themselves as having a “fleet” ^[3].

Take a hypothetical HVAC contractor with six service vans, each with its own card. Using the court record’s rates, Fraud Protector ($15 for the account), Accelerator Rewards ($4 times six cards, or $24) and FleetAdvance ($29.97) add up to $68.97 a month before any per-gallon charge ^[3]. That’s this column’s arithmetic, not a refund estimate.

Now a hypothetical two-truck hauling company. The terms counted anyone who “operate[d] in the trucking or transportation industry” as high risk, regardless of credit ^[3]. That one sentence could have put the business into Level 2 pricing on every fill-up.

Who’s out, for now: nobody has been told yes or no. The FTC hasn’t published eligibility rules, payment amounts or dates ^{[2, 5]}.

What to do now

Start with your records. If you still have FleetCor invoices and Fuel Management Reports, set them aside and look for the fee names above, plus late fees on payments you know went out on time ^[3]. Because the order has Corpay hand over customer data to the FTC, make sure the company has a current address and contact for your account ^[1]. And if you have something to say about the deal, the FTC is taking comments through Oct. 22 ^[1].

What I’m keeping an eye on

Oct. 22. The comment period closes, and the FTC then decides whether to make the order final, change it or withdraw ^[1].

The refund plan. The FTC hasn’t said how the $100 million will be divided or when it goes out ^[2]. Whether a business that left FleetCor years ago, or one that never noticed a “Misc.” line, gets a share is the open question.

— Sally