Banner Montgomery Milks the Clock and MoCo Wallets
Photo Credit: © European Union, 2026 / CC BY 4.0. Cropped and modified with overlay
On June 1, Maryland will finally pull the plug on the predatory "sucker offer" online subscription model. House Bill 107, passed in 2025, will mandate that companies send clear renewal reminders and provide transparent terms before charging a customer's card. Most ethical businesses have already updated their systems.
The Baltimore Banner has chosen a different path: squeezing every last cent out of Montgomery County wallets before their billing practices officially become a "deceptive trade practice" under Maryland law.
Last September, The Banner launched its new Montgomery County edition with a $1 trial offer for six months. Somewhere in the fine print that most people click past, the auto-renewal is disclosed. Six months later, those trials are auto-renewing with zero warning. No heads-up email, no "thank you for being a subscriber" note. You know it when a full-price charge hits your credit card account.
When customers call to request a refund, even within hours of the charge, The Banner enforces a rigid no-refund policy.
Legally, The Banner has about 40 days of "grace" left to milk Montgomery County wallets. Morally, they are already bankrupt and the irony is thick enough to reclog the Potomac Interceptor. The Banner markets itself as a civic watchdog, a champion of transparency that relentlessly hammers government agencies and corporations for lack of fairness. But here they are, gaming a 14-month implementation window to profit from the "dark patterns" the General Assembly voted to outlaw.
A newsroom that demands accountability from the powerful shouldn’t need a legislative deadline to stop exploiting its own readers.
Is the premium-priced content worth the headache? In my six-month trial, I found very little essential reporting that wasn't already being covered, often with more local nuance and all for free, by The MoCo Show, Bethesda Magazine, MyMCM, or Moderately MOCO.
Notably, The Banner has been silent on the consumer impact of HB 107. It’s no surprise. It's hard to report on a law that brands your current business model as predatory.
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A Note for Readers: If you find yourself surprised by a renewal and you think it was unfair, you can file a formal complaint with the Maryland Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division or the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection. Meantime, keep a close eye on your bank statements. The Banner certainly is.
