Five Australian banks face a massive class action lawsuit related to late payment fees. Law firm Maurice Blackburn claims that five of Australia’s largest banks face millions of dollars in potential payments over late fees charged to account holders.
The lawsuit is one of Australia’s largest class actions in history and involves over one hundred thousand customers across the country. Five well-known Australian banks are involved: Westpac, St George, BankSA, Citibank and ANZ.
The legal firm involved in the lawsuit, Maurice Blackburn, is regarded as a leading social justice firm in Australia. If the lawsuit is successful, customers of the banks involved will be able to receive compensation for certain unfair late charges.
The focus of the lawsuit is ‘exception fees’ – fees charged to customers when their account contains insufficient funds to pay for a transactions. Exception fees have also been charge to people who exceed their credit limits of make late payments.
Unlike most lawsuits, the statute of limitations on the case has been removed as to allow any affected customers to come forward. According to Maurice Blackburn, the banks in question charged Australian households £360 million in a one-year period.
This amount excludes any exception fees charged to Australian businesses. Maurice Blackburn’s head, Andrew Watson, believes that they have a “very strong case” and that the case will be a “safeguard for the rights of consumers affected by late fees.”
The legal firm claims that it will eventually expand the lawsuit to target nine of the country’s financial institutions. Future targets include American Express, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and BankWest.
Most of the banks involved in the lawsuit have remained silent. ANZ and Westpac both declined to comment on the case when contacted by the BBC earlier in the week.
