FeeShield

FeeShield is a mobile + web AI app that helps people on tight budgets identify and reduce “poverty penalties” like overdraft fees, prepaid card charges, check-cashing costs, late-payment add-ons, and predatory subscription traps. Users connect a bank account (or upload statements), and the app automatically categorizes fees, flags repeat offenders, and estimates annualized loss. It then provides realistic next steps: scripts to request fee reversals, reminders timed before common fee triggers, and a shortlist of safer alternatives (local credit unions, low-fee accounts, bill-pay options) based on the user’s location and eligibility. It also includes a simple “fee forecast” that warns when upcoming bills and balances make a fee likely. This isn’t a magic wand—many fees won’t be reversed—but it can consistently reduce avoidable charges and make the cost of being poor visible and measurable.