Bank refuses to pay back ‘unfair’ fees

Many low income Indigenous customers are set to receive refunds for unfairly charged high fees, but one bank is refusing to hand back over $270 million.

An Australian Securities and Investments Commission report has revealed that as many as 800,000 customers were eligible for a refund.

Customers were hit for millions in excessive fees over a number of years.

The Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Bendigo Bank and ANZ knowingly kept more than 150,000 Indigenous customers in high-fee accounts, according to ASIC.

The latest ASIC report stated ANZ would commit to return $47.9 million,

Westpac has promised to refund about $9.9 million and Bendigo Bank customers are set to receive a share of $155,000.

But the Commonwealth Bank and its subsidiary Bankwest has refused to refund the $27m is charged customers between 2019 and 2024.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told the ABC it had already made repayments of $25 million in relation to ASIC’s first report on “a goodwill basis”.

But in relation to the latest report that says $270m should be refunded, the spokesperson said the fees “were disclosed to customers and were charged in accordance with their terms and conditions”.

“Where customers have incurred unusually high fees we consider goodwill adjustments where appropriate while continuing to provide access to lower-fee options,” the spokesperson said.

ASIC has said it has put banks on notice and will continue to monitor all of the banks’ actions and has not ruled out further action.