A multi-million dollar class action against National Australia Bank over unfair fees will be open to the lender’s entire customer base following a Federal Court order.
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The Federal Court yesterday approved orders sought by NAB and law firm Maurice Blackburn that are intended to help settle the matter.
In a statement, Maurice Blackburn said NAB customers who hadn’t already joined the class action could now sign on to take part between November 25 and January 27.
NAB last week said it was looking to do the right thing by customers by taking the step toward settling the case.
NAB could pay out an estimated $40 million to around 30,000 customers.
Maurice Blackburn senior associate Paul Gillett encouraged other banks to follow NAB’s lead.
“We welcome NAB’s common-sense approach in exploring the resolution of the bank fees class action against it, and we encourage other banks to follow suit,” he said.
The NAB case is one of a string of actions being brought by Maurice Blackburn against Australian banks, including the Commonwealth, ANZ and Westpac, over excessive fees. Earlier this year, the Federal Court ruled ANZ had illegally imposed penalties for late payments on credit cards.
Those charges - made when a customer missed a minimum credit bill payment - were either $20 or $35, representing a mark-up of up to 7000 per cent on actual costs of as low as 50 cents.
