Ive got same problem. Ive got 0.0044 but can only spent 0.0022... Thats 5.5$ Fee to send 5.5$. Looks like a ripoff...
That happens when you get a lot of micro payments that in the end make the total amount 0.0044 btc. By sending a lot of micro payments to your electrum wallet or any other good desktop wallet you add more bytes to your transaction fees. Nowadays a recommended transaction fee is about 500 satoshi/byte so the more bytes you transaction has the more fee you have to pay. It is not a ripoff, Electrum is one of the best if not the best free desktop wallet.
If you don't pay a high fee per byte rate then your transaction could be pending for weeks or forgotten by the network. The starter of this thread had to wait over two and a half weeks for his transaction to confirm because he paid a low fee.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1920603.0In the past the network usually forgot transactions after three days, but something's recently changed and people are sometimes waiting weeks for a confirmation. That high fee might seem a rip off, but it's preferable to having your coins stuck in limbo for weeks.