Corpay Agrees to $100 Million FTC Settlement Over Fuel Card Fees

Corpay Inc. (CPAY ), formerly known as FleetCor Technologies, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission administrative action alleging the company charged customers, who overwhelmingly are small businesses, undisclosed fees in connection with their use of fuel cards that the company falsely promised would save them money, the agency announced on September 17, 2026.

Under the proposed settlement order, the $100 million will be used to provide redress to the company’s business customers harmed by its practices, according to the FTC. The company and Chief Executive Ronald Clarke also agreed not to oppose reimposition of a federal court injunction against Clarke.

The Commission vote to accept the consent agreement was 1-0-1, with Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson recused. The FTC said it will publish a description of the consent agreement in the Federal Register; the agreement will be subject to public comment for 30 days after publication, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final. Once the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law, and each violation may result in a civil penalty of up to $53,088, the agency said.

Corpay issued its own announcement on September 18, 2026, stating that the proposed settlement resolves previously disclosed allegations relating to marketing and disclosure practices in its U.S. Vehicle Payments business without any admission of wrongdoing. The company said the order entered in the matter on June 8, 2023 by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia remains in place, and that it will continue to cooperate with the FTC as the matter is finalized.

The two releases differ on Clarke’s financial role: Corpay stated that its chief executive is not subject to any financial payment as part of the settlement, while the FTC’s release states that FleetCor and Clarke will pay $100 million.

“We are pleased to resolve this matter and move forward,” Clarke said in the company’s release. “Corpay is committed to transparent customer disclosures, consent-based practices, and strong compliance controls across our U.S. Vehicle Payments business.”

Corpay said it has taken steps over the past several years to enhance customer communications, compliance oversight, and internal controls, including actions implemented before and after the June 8, 2023 order. The company said it does not expect the proposed settlement to have a material impact on its ongoing operations or financial results.

The 2019 Complaint

The FTC first filed suit against FleetCor and Clarke in December 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging the defendants charged customers at least hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden fees after making false promises about helping them save on fuel costs, harming tens of thousands of customers. At the time, the FTC described FleetCor as a publicly traded company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that reported $2.4 billion in annual revenues in 2018. The company marketed its fuel card services under its own Fuelman brand name and through co-branded cards to businesses around the country, whose employees use the cards to refuel company vehicles.

According to the complaint, the defendants falsely told potential customers they would save money, be protected from unauthorized charges, and face no set-up, transaction, or membership fees. Despite those promises, the fees were often charged on a per-transaction basis or required for membership in FleetCor’s programs, the FTC alleged. The agency also alleged the defendants often waited to begin charging many fees until a few billing cycles had passed, making the fees harder to detect among a customer’s monthly bill fluctuations, and that FleetCor’s invoices often failed to disclose that any fees were being charged, requiring customers to proactively view other account management reports, where many fees were obscured among other information.

The complaint further alleged the defendants did not post customer payments when they were received, leading to additional fees, including late fees for on-time payments and “high credit risk” fees charged because the customers ostensibly had paid late. Some customers were charged “high risk” fees for operating in the trucking and transportation industry even though FleetCor’s primary customer base operates in those industries, according to the FTC. While the defendants advertised FleetCor’s cards as “fuel only” cards, cardholders were able to purchase any item sold at fueling locations, including beer and snacks, the complaint alleged.

The complaint alleged customers generally did not achieve the advertised per-gallon savings, citing FleetCor’s own documents showing that average fuel savings fell far short of the defendants’ marketing promises. An analysis requested by Clarke in response to negative press coverage about the marketing practices showed that, on average, customers saved a fraction of a cent per gallon, far less than the 5 to 10 cents per gallon the defendants frequently touted, and the fees charged exceeded any savings otherwise obtained using the cards, according to the FTC.

The Commission vote authorizing staff to file the complaint was 4-1, with Commissioner Wilson voting no and Commissioner Phillips voting yes but dissenting in part as to the inclusion of Ronald Clarke as an individual defendant.

Court Rulings in 2023 and 2026

In 2023, a federal district court entered summary judgment for the FTC on all counts, finding that FleetCor had charged its customers hidden or otherwise unauthorized fees and misrepresented the gas savings and fees associated with its fuel cards. The court-imposed order permanently prohibits FleetCor from billing a customer for any charge unless it has obtained the customer’s express informed consent and provided clear and unavoidable information about the charge, from hiding material information about a charge behind a hyperlink, and from making deceptive claims about its fuel cards.

In 2026, a federal appeals court upheld the summary judgment against FleetCor on all counts and affirmed the permanent injunction against the company. The appeals court affirmed the judgment against Clarke on all but one count and vacated the injunction as to Clarke.

“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 the September 17, 2026 announcement. “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.”