Many customers value trust and honesty above all else, especially when it comes to financial institutions.

However, it appears that every now and then, a trusty steed may also stumble and fall.

Banking giant ANZ recently suffered a sizeable, and let’s be honest, rather embarrassing misstep.

The bank has been required to cough up a whopping $15 million in fines after being found misleading some of its credit card customers.

ANZ was fined $15 million dollars after allegedly misleading some of its credit card customers. Image source: Facebook/ANZ Australia.

Customers found themselves in the unfortunate position of being underinformed about the state of their accounts as ANZ failed to tell them that their credit card balances were lower than they might have thought. This led to unexpected fees and interest charged to unaware ANZ customers who took out cash advances with the bank.

The Federal Court found this debacle a monumental misstep and ruled that ANZ had not acted efficiently, honestly, and fairly.

More than 186,000 accounts suffered an average of $45 in fees and interest on cash advances with some customers charged thousands of dollars.

This occurred between May 2016 to November 2018.

ANZ has since managed to scrabble together a payback of $8.3 million to the affected customers.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) emphasised that consumers deserved better and should have received clearer and more accurate information about their liabilities.

ASIC Deputy Chair, Sarah Court offered stern words, saying: 'These are errors that we expect a bank to be aware of and fix in a timely manner.'

'It should not have taken ANZ several years to address this issue.'

'ASIC will continue to take action against banks who fail in their duty to act efficiently, honestly and fairly in dealings with customers.'

Meanwhile, the bank had also agreed to set up a remediation program to pay back customers who were charged a cash advance fee from November 2018 to September 2021.

ANZ has also accepted responsibility for the error and has since apologised to customers. They also addressed the issues that led to this misstep.

In other news, ANZ recognised that it could have done more to support 78-year-old Alex Shaw, who was targeted by ruthless scammers shortly before being diagnosed with dementia.

Thanks to a long-held habit of taking notes, Alex had created an informal paper trail of his interactions with the scammers.

He had meticulously noted down names and details of conversations with the strangers who had contacted him and asked him to purchase hundreds of dollars worth of Apple gift cards at the supermarket and send the serial numbers to a caller in Thailand. He was also asked transfer money into a cryptocurrency account and click on links that would give him grant money in return.

Three months later, ANZ sent him a letter letting him know they would reimburse the scam transactions covering a huge amount.

You can read more about this story here.

Key Takeaways

• ANZ Bank has been fined $15 million for allegedly misleading customers about credit card fees.
• The bank did not tell customers their credit card account balances were lower than they appeared, resulting in unexpected fees and interest on cash advances.
• Over 186,000 accounts were affected and ANZ has already reimbursed $8.3 million to its customers.
• ANZ has agreed to create a remediation program to repay customers who faced illegitimate cash advance fees and has taken responsibility for its errors.

Members, what are your thoughts on ANZ’s misstep? Was the $15 million fine enough? Let us know in the comments below!

 

[Macarj]

The 15 million dollar fine should go to ANZ customers too not to the Government

 

[Jest]

Many customers value trust and honesty above all else, especially when it comes to financial institutions.

However, it appears that every now and then, a trusty steed may also stumble and fall.

Banking giant ANZ recently suffered a sizeable, and let’s be honest, rather embarrassing misstep.

The bank has been required to cough up a whopping $15 million in fines after being found misleading some of its credit card customers.

View attachment 30956

ANZ was fined $15 million dollars after allegedly misleading some of its credit card customers. Image source: Facebook/ANZ Australia.

Customers found themselves in the unfortunate position of being underinformed about the state of their accounts as ANZ failed to tell them that their credit card balances were lower than they might have thought. This led to unexpected fees and interest charged to unaware ANZ customers who took out cash advances with the bank.

The Federal Court found this debacle a monumental misstep and ruled that ANZ had not acted efficiently, honestly, and fairly.

More than 186,000 accounts suffered an average of $45 in fees and interest on cash advances with some customers charged thousands of dollars.

This occurred between May 2016 to November 2018.

ANZ has since managed to scrabble together a payback of $8.3 million to the affected customers.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) emphasised that consumers deserved better and should have received clearer and more accurate information about their liabilities.

ASIC Deputy Chair, Sarah Court offered stern words, saying: 'These are errors that we expect a bank to be aware of and fix in a timely manner.'

'It should not have taken ANZ several years to address this issue.'

'ASIC will continue to take action against banks who fail in their duty to act efficiently, honestly and fairly in dealings with customers.'

Meanwhile, the bank had also agreed to set up a remediation program to pay back customers who were charged a cash advance fee from November 2018 to September 2021.

ANZ has also accepted responsibility for the error and has since apologised to customers. They also addressed the issues that led to this misstep.

In other news, ANZ recognised that it could have done more to support 78-year-old Alex Shaw, who was targeted by ruthless scammers shortly before being diagnosed with dementia.

Thanks to a long-held habit of taking notes, Alex had created an informal paper trail of his interactions with the scammers.

He had meticulously noted down names and details of conversations with the strangers who had contacted him and asked him to purchase hundreds of dollars worth of Apple gift cards at the supermarket and send the serial numbers to a caller in Thailand. He was also asked transfer money into a cryptocurrency account and click on links that would give him grant money in return.

Three months later, ANZ sent him a letter letting him know they would reimburse the scam transactions covering a huge amount.

You can read more about this story here.

Key Takeaways

• ANZ Bank has been fined $15 million for allegedly misleading customers about credit card fees.
• The bank did not tell customers their credit card account balances were lower than they appeared, resulting in unexpected fees and interest on cash advances.
• Over 186,000 accounts were affected and ANZ has already reimbursed $8.3 million to its customers.
• ANZ has agreed to create a remediation program to repay customers who faced illegitimate cash advance fees and has taken responsibility for its errors.

Members, what are your thoughts on ANZ’s misstep? Was the $15 million fine enough? Let us know in the comments below!

if this bank can give 2mil to the yes outfit i hope they get done like a dinner. never would i be with anz.

 

[AlexAshes]

$15m is a drop in the ocean for ANZ. Fine them another $15m and give it to all their clients.

 

[Gaena]

I am not in support of the ANZ or any bank for that matter but Issues with charges on credit cards are more often than not caused by the customers ignorance of how transactions on their credit card works, any body who does not read the rules around the type of transactions that cause extra fee's should be aware that using a credit card to withdraw cash will not only cause a fee but also a much larger interest charge on the amount that is taken out in cash. This is clearly explained in the terms and conditions of the credit card usage, which so many people do not read. If you use the card at an ATM to withdraw any amount of cash you will be charged more interest but if you use your card to pay for the goods that you want at any business even a supermarket you will not be charged the extra interest.