Rate creep
Last updated June 15, 2026
Definition
Rate creep is the slow, compounding increase in a recurring cost over time through small annual escalators, surcharges, and quiet adjustments. No single change is large enough to prompt a review, so the cost climbs unnoticed year after year.
Escalator clauses that raise a rate by a few percent each year feel negligible in isolation, but they compound, and over several renewals they can lift a cost far above where it started. Because the increases are gradual, they rarely trigger the scrutiny a sudden jump would.
Surfacing rate creep means looking at what a recurring cost was years ago against what it is now, then benchmarking the current figure against the market. The accumulated gap is usually recoverable.
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