Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp. will refund customers more than A$20 million in total for, respectively, failing to properly disclose credit card product details and increasing credit card limits to customers in financial hardship.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, said in a Feb. 7 release that ANZ will refund A$10.2 million to 52,135 business credit card accounts after it failed to or incorrectly disclosed details such as applicable interest rates, annual fees and when an overseas transaction fee might be incurred. Clients who were affected will receive a refund with interest.
Westpac has returned about A$11.3 million to approximately 3,400 credit card holders after it was found to have raised credit card limits to customers in financial difficulty. The lender refunded about A$3 million for fees and interest, and about A$8.3 million in waived credit card balances, ASIC noted in a separate same-day release. Westpac has also set aside A$1 million in support of financial counselling and literacy.
This came after ASIC conducted a 2014 review on invitations by credit card providers to clients to raise card limits. The Australian government has since introduced reforms requiring, among other things, providers to gauge whether a credit card limit might be unsuitable based on the holder's ability to repay within a certain time the proposed limit, and not the minimum repayment amount.
