A class action is being put together, suing Australian banks to recover about $5 billion in fees that may have been illegal.
Link to the ABC.
Quote:
A class action is being launched in Australia against local and foreign banks for repayment of dishonour and late fees.
Official figures show the banks collected nearly $1.2 billion in such fees in the 2008 financial year.
The class action, being run by a subsidiary of litigation funder IMF, will relate to honour and dishonour fees on bank accounts, and over limit and late fees on credit cards.
The big four banks - Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, National Bank and Westpac - recently scrapped or reduced many of those charges.
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Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are the solicitors running the action against Australia's 12 biggest banks.
The case will be based on the claim that the fees are illegal because they amount to a penalty rather than a legitimate fee.
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The point seems to be that Banks were allowed to cover their losses if you were overdrawn, but sometimes the account was overdrawn by $2 and the fee was $45, so it will be argued that it is not really "cost recovery" but "illegal penalty".
The big four Australian banks were four of the eleven world banks to come through the financial crisis with their AAA credit ratings intact. They and the mining sector are the last palces in the Australian economy where there is (perceived to be) money. And we've just taxed the miners.