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Whether it's paying $30 to bounce a check or $35 to check a bag, some American companies seem to be on a race to the bottom in a frenzy of fees.

But if you think these fees are annoying, how about this one? A 1% fee to the builder of your house whenever you sell it...for 99 years!

So if you buy a house from a builder for $100,000, then sell it 10 years later for $200,000, you'd be forced to pay $2,000 to the developer. If your buyer sells it for $400,000 20 years later, they'd pay $4,000. On and on for 99 years.

Think this so-called flip-fee sounds crazy? Well, here's something even crazier. T The company behind it, Freehold Capital Partners, claims that, this thing's good good for homeowners. Their logic? Because it means a lower up-front sales price.

And according to their marketing brochure, that means "Each and every buyer also saves on closing costs, carrying costs, etc., and gets to use the initial savings to reduce other more expensive debt such as credit cards, consumer loans, etc."

Yes, you heard right. This company is claiming that imposing a 1% fee... for 99 years, every time your house is sold is somehow supposed to help you pay your credit card bills.

18 states have already made the practice illegal. There's a movement afoot to fight the fee and even some in Congress are also fighting it.

But you've got to admit one thing: makes paying $35 to check a bag look like chump change. Want to learn more? It's right here at moneytalksnews.com. I'm Stacy Johnson.