The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has commenced civil penalty proceedings in Federal Court against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation (ANZ) for allegedly overstating the funds and balances. availability that customers have in their credit card accounts, and charge fees and interest rates to customers who relied on this information when making a withdrawal.
ASIC alleges that between May 2016 and November 2018, more than 165,700 ANZ customers were charged cash advance fees and interest when withdrawing or transferring funds from their credit card accounts based on their account balances. Inaccuracies are displayed on the ANZ website, ANZ app and automated teller machines. ASIC alleges that the average cash advance fee and interest charged per client account is around AU$47.
“We are concerned that, over a long period of time, ANZ has been overstating the amount and balance available on credit card accounts and charging fees and interest to customers who rely on this information when withdrawing funds. money,” said ASIC Vice President Sarah Court.
According to ASIC, the alleged misconduct was the result of a “systemic error” that misled customers between May 2016 and September 2021 and from September 2021 into believing that their credit card balances were not valid. Use and their available funds are credit and the balance will be available for withdrawal with no fees or interest.
ASIC also alleges that ANZ failed to adequately fix the issue and that customers continued to be affected.
inside apply to court [PDF]ASIC alleges that in March 2018, ANZ began an internal investigation to eventually identify 20 situations in which credit card and other account funds were affected due to false information about available funds and balances. ASIC believes that it was only after this investigation that ANZ started working on fixes to some of the issues but continued to charge inflated fees and interest on affected accounts.
“We say that ANZ has been aware of illegal toll collection since at least 2018 and the problem is still happening today,” the Court said.
As of end-October 2021, ANZ has remedied over A$10 million for more than 220,700 customers who were incorrectly charged or charged interest between July 2015 and November 2018, but ASIC is currently in the possession of a claim. Ask the court to order the bank to correct customers who have been miscalculated since 2018.
The company’s watchdog is also seeking court orders ordering ANZ to make changes to the system so that a payment is made to a customer’s credit card account that is not included in the payment. or their balance until the amount is cleared by ANZ and available for use without charge or interest. ASIC is also seeking statements and monetary penalties from the court.
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