Understanding Hidden Fees in Your Coinbase Bill

Did you recently check your Coinbase balance, and see something missing? 

Maybe the last few statements have contained hidden fees in your Coinbase bill. Now you want to know why those are on your statement and what legal options you have when you have been charged unnecessarily. We go over your options.

It’s very important that you review monthly statements or bills from companies like Coinbase every month. This will help you catch hidden Coinbase fees the moment they hit your account so that you are not surprised later.

Hidden Coinbase Fees

Hidden fees in your Coinbase bill are based on the services you use. 

Wallet service

Coinbase uses a wallet service which stores US Dollars and cryptocurrency. There is no service fee for transferring money from one wallet service to another. However, there are:

1. Network transaction fees which you pay for transactions from one network to another
2. Miner’s fees for things like cryptocurrency
3. Transaction fees when you move cryptocurrency out of your Coinbase wallet

Cryptocurrency transactions

When you buy, sell, or convert cryptocurrencies with your coinbase account, you get charged a fee based on:

1. When you place the order
2. What type of payment method you used
3. The size of your order
4. The market conditions

Before you submit it for any transaction this amount will show up on your screen. You have to click an accept button to confirm that you saw this hidden fee in your Coinbase bill.

Margin or spread fees

This is a hidden Coinbase fee of 2% on any exchanges, meaning conversions or purchases from USD to cryptocurrencies or from one cryptocurrency to another. 

Credit transactions

If you borrow dollars from Coinbase, they have loan agreements that allow this but they charge you a flat fee of 2% of however much you borrow in a credit transaction.

Coinbase card

Coinbase offers cards affiliated with your wallet service. when you spend money with your card online there is no fee. However, there is a hidden transaction fee on all ATM withdrawals of 2.49%.

Staking services

Coinbase allows you to stake your assets in a third party if you use cryptocurrency. There can be rewards on this investment minus a hidden Coinbase fee of 25% commission. 

What other details do I need to consider when looking for hidden fees in my Coinbase bill?

In some situations, you might notice hidden fees that are actually from a transaction that took place during the previous billing cycle. Even with Coinbase there are statements that come out every month just the same as with a regular checking account. That means transactions with your card or credit transactions that took place at the end of one month might not get processed until the following month which can result in what looks like hidden fees on your next statement.

What can I do if I was incorrectly charged a fee?

If Coinbase incorrectly charged you a fee, start by contacting Coinbase customer service to see if they will fix it for you. If they won’t, you still have two legal options you can pursue:

1. You can try to sue Coinbase in small claims court. There are restrictions on which cases qualify and how much compensation you can get, which changes based on where you live.
2. You can also use a faster and easier option: consumer arbitration. With consumer arbitration you have more flexibility, can usually get a faster resolution, and what’s more, we can help.

Ready to get your money back? Let FairShake help.