I am going to break my (self-imposed) silence and make a post on this. Following on from an earlier post on the situation in the UK it looks like the legal situation is the same here – or in Victoria at least. Today’s Crikey has a story on how one of their contributors took Citibank to the small claims tribunal over a $40 fee – and won, with costs, after Citi simply failed to turn up. Even better, Citi had paid out the claim even before it hit the tribunal.
The Crikey piece notes that this does not set a binding precendent, but
the fact that a full-time VCAT member provided a judgment noting that the bank-fee charged was unenforceable and amounted to an unfair term in the contract is an indictment on the conduct of a financial institution. While Citigroup did not defend the matter, the VCAT member would have been within his rights to dismiss the application if he was of the opinion that it was without merit.
So, this one is just waiting for a test case. We have an interesting possibility here. If you believe the fees you are paying are excessive then – claim them all back. All of them. Just find a lawyer willing to take on your bank.
Surprisingingly, Citi’s newsroom says nothing on the topic of this court loss.
Thanks to The Sheet for pointing me at this.
2 comments
24 April, 2008 at 18:39
Youie
Andrew, what do you think of the situation as follows?
I have two monthly direct debits from my account – $20 for ISP fees and a monthly donation of $10 to Greenpeace (harpoon me later pls). As a “dole-bludger”, I frequently go into debt to my credit union for a coupla days between one of the debits occuring and my next “payment” going through. My credit union charges me interest for the overdrawn amount (*note: I don’t have an overdraw facility) which admittedly only amounts to a less than a dollar at a time; but nowhere have I ever seen anything from them saying they can do this – only a letter on each occasion saying that they have. Given their interest charges against me tally up to far more than the 0.01% (I kid ye not) interest they’re currently paying, I get a little shitty at being charged anything, even if it is three-fifths of FA.
I don’t need advice, thanks; just a more learned assessment of my situation – and something other than “make sure you have money in the bank to cover those expenses”, if you know what I mean.
Cheers.
24 April, 2008 at 18:54
Andrew
youie,
The interest charged will be in the fine print of your agreement with them – those pamphlets you get at regular intervals that every just throws away without reading. Other than what you have already said, the only advice I can really give is to arrange a (small) overdraft with them and try not to use it. Quite a few of them will give $100 O/Ds without fees – for example I know the ANZ do – to cover little movements like this without risk to you and without the fees that normally come with “unarranged lendings”.
The other thing to do if your bank / credit union will not do this is to call around. There is almost always someone out there willing to do it.