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Bank Rip-Offs Revealed - Click
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The Sydney Morning Herald recently commissioned a study into bank overcharges. They checked over 200 bank statements form 18 different lenders and found that 54% of them contained errors. Not too surprisingly, the vast majority of these errors favour the lenders.
This problem of systematic bank over-charging has been exposed on several current affairs programs including the ABC’s "Four Corners" and "The 7:30 Report", as well as channel 9’s "A Current Affair" and channel 7’s "Today Tonight" program.
A major Australian bank was recently cited for errors of this nature. It was calculated that at the date of judgement, they had made interest overcharges to a number of bank customers to the tune of $2,646,326.06!! It was found that these overcharges arose principally as a result of the Bank's use of an illegal formula to calculate accrued interest, and on systematic computer errors. With reference to the Bank's management of its computers systems, the Commercial Tribunal of NSW made the following observations:
"The range of errors attributable to deficiencies in the Bank's computer systems in these proceedings attest to a most serious failure by the Bank to properly program the systems and/or adequately check their functions once programmed".
So what can be done about it?
One website well worth checking out is called Mortgage Watchdog. These people base their whole business around showing people how to accurately find these errors and get their money back. Hundreds of thousands of Australians are potentially affected by overcharges on their accounts and are actually owed money by their lender. People who take the time to check their accounts are finding anything from a few hundred to thousands of dollars in overcharges. The people at Mortgage Watchdog are so confident that they guarantee that you will find errors in your bank statements or your money back.
Can you get your money back?
The good news is that yes you can. When presented with the evidence, your lender will return your money to your account. Obviously, it's hard to prove the credibility of a home spreadsheet. In contrast, the software available from these people has already been used in several court cases and has been accredited by Coopers & Lybrand. Even if you have paid out a mortgage you can still get your money back from your old lender. It's quite common for errors to occur during the calculation of the final payout figure for a loan. One small businessman from regional NSW checked his old statements and discovered just under $100,000 in overcharges on a $150,000 loan. There are real windfall gains to be had for people who take the time to check.
For a special offer from Mortgage Watchdog you can click here. Their site contains a wealth of information on statement errors and can show you how to stop getting ripped off and how to get your money back.
For more information on bank over-charging, see our articles Banks Behaving Badly and Mortgage Misery.
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