Are the big banks 'playing' us?

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will pay out around $80 million in refunds to around 216,000 customers for overcharging borrowers as a result of human error.

A complaint in 2014 led the bank to discover it had neglected to honour certain discounts on its home loan packages – some of which dated back to 2008. Affected customers will receive an average refund of $370 including interest.

"I apologise to customers who have not received the full benefits of their home loan package due to our mistake," said the head of CBA's retail banking services Matt Comyn. "Once we discovered the error we notified the regulator, ASIC. We worked to identify those customers who were due a refund, and the amount owed to them, including interest. We have commenced contacting these customers."

CBA hopes to have notified most affected customers by 2016.

Now, hats off to the bank for discovering this and taking action but, if I may play devil's advocate, do you think this is beginning to become a bit too commonplace? Considering CBA has already announced earlier in the year of another 'error' that withheld money from its customers, and ANZ and NAB have also recently committed similar 'errors'? Do you think the banks may be just holding on to money and profiting from the interest? Or am I just paranoid?

Read more at Brisbane Times

7 comments

No I think the four bank policy introduced by Keating has made our banks arrogant . They know that customers do not change banks . 

The banks rely on their statistics which show customers a far less likely to leave when they have 3 or more accounts particularly if 1 of those accounts is a loan account. The more accounts the less likely we are to leave. I went to the bank to close an account and came out with 2 more accounts.

i wouldnt trust a bank,    i have used a CREDIT UNION for years,    terrific service for what is a very small account of mine,     

I agree cats, credit unions for every day banking is the way to go

Been with the same credit union since 1981. Its a bank now but still a credit union. Bank Australia

I dont trust the CBA. Ever since they merged with the old CML and had a thing going with Storm. We are not talking about small change, so the board would have been aware. Maybe they have turned the corner and trying to do the right thing? I will reserve my judgement until a later date. Wasnt the ex labor party boss on their super board? You know the one who is in gaol now?

 

 

I am sure they are all have a lend of us.

 

I have a Credit card with one of the big banks, it is a reward card and I use it for most things except if they charge a % to use it, and I always pay it b4 time.

It used to be when I had 5000 points I could get a $50 reward -- I always chose the cash back, then it went to 10,000 points this time it went to 12500 points I complained loudly and they ended up giving me 5000 points as goodwill and I used that & what I had to get my $50 cash back -- IMO this is sneaky and wrong and as soon as I have used all my points I will be looking for another card.

I have stuck with the big bank because your money was guaranteed, to $250.000 I don''t think it is unless you are with one of the 4 BIG banks

The Australian Government has guaranteed deposits up to $250,000 in Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) such as your bank, building society or credit union. This means that this money is guaranteed if anything happens to the ADI.

The cap applies per person and per ADI. So if you have $250,000 with one ADI and $250,000 with another, then both of your deposits are guaranteed. If you have more than $250,000 with one ADI then only up to $250,000 is guaranteed.

Some ADIs operate multiple brands or may offer deposit accounts under more than one brand name. However, they are still part of the same ADI. The guarantee covers deposits per ADI, not per brand name. For example, if you have multiple deposit accounts with brands that are owned by the same ADI, the guarantee will only apply to $250,000 of these funds in total. If this concerns you, make sure you know who the ADI is that you bank with.

In the case of joint accounts, each account holder is entitled to an individual guarantee up to $250,000.

The guarantee applies to all ADIs incorporated in Australia, including Australian-owned banks, foreign subsidiary banks, building societies and credit unions. To check which banks are covered by the guarantee see the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's list of ADIs.

The types of accounts covered by the guarantee are: savings accounts; call accounts; term deposits; current accounts; cheque accounts; debit card accounts; transaction accounts; personal basic accounts; cash management accounts; farm management deposits; pensioner deeming accounts; mortgage offset accounts, either 100 per cent or partial offset that are separate deposit accounts; trustee accounts; and retirement savings accounts.

Thanks for that info Pete.

You bet they are, along with the government and lots of others if you give them half a chance.

For those who have super funds you probably own shares in the CBA and they pay you a good dividend ;)

Radish

That is a good topic.

The big 4 Banks are that wealthy and powerful and control a large portion of our economy (their industry plus 53% of the Life insurance industry, etc).

They will endeavour to take as much from us as they can and don't really give that much about it but it is good to see them having to pay back some of the money that they steal, I do think that they should also pay a penalty to government for their fraudulent behaviour.

 

Because our 4 big banks are massive and hold $2.89 trillion in assets, and have such a huge impact on our economy, it is (to me anyhow) important to have more government controls placed upon these humongous megacorps, to ensure that they do not go the way of USA banks.  That is one of the contentious areas... foreign ownership of our banks and therefore our economy.

 

LINK shows which FOREIGN institutions (HSBC, JP Morgan, Citibank, National Nominees) who own just under 50% although if you add them all together for each of the big 4 banks, they in effect control our Australian big 4 banks because they represent a major block (ie the SAME foreign institutions).

Of each big 4 bank they own:

ANZ 49% CWLTH 39% NAB 43% W/PAC 45%  (these are the official holdings, it could be more because shareholdings are impossible to track to the 'real' shareholders).

 

I for one don't want these FOREIGN entities controlling our country's economy and holding our governments to ransom, through their concentrated control of our banks.

These FOREIGN entities are already pulling strings and vying for less government controls which is the same way the US banks went and we saw what happened there... the banks brought the mightiest nation in the world, to its knees.

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