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ABA CALLS ON THE AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERS' ASSOCIATION
TO RETRACT INCORRECT INFORMATION ON BANK FEES
Sydney, 7 April, 2006: The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) is asking the Australian Consumers’ Association (ACA) to explain its conduct in relation to the publication of its media release entitled ‘ A new low in bank fees - $2 for nothing. ’
Yesterday afternoon the ABA wrote to the ACA requesting their embargoed media release be withdrawn on the grounds that the ACA’s media release implied banks generally charged wrongly entered PIN fees, despite their own report identifying only four banks. Since checking further, a worse ACA mistake has emerged – the ABA has discovered that no banks charge this fee.
In the ABA’s view, the seriousness of the issue is amplified by the fact that the ACA stands to financially gain by the misinformation. The ACA’s media release has the following misinformation:
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ACA media release claim |
ABA response |
“Banks are charging up to $2 for cancelled EFTPOS and ATM transactions and are even billing consumers if they put in the wrong PIN number, says the Australian Consumers’ Association.”
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False.
No bank identified in ACA’s report charges for an incorrectly entered PIN number. |
| “Most consumers do not know these fees exist, the circumstances under which they are charged, or how much they can be charged.” |
False.
The Code of Banking Practice provides the Code’s subscribing banks to disclose fees to customers including notice of any changes to fees or the introduction of any new fee. |
The ABA requests again that the ACA stem the misinformation by retracting its media release and offering an apology for not acting sooner.
For further information:
Heather Wellard
Director, Public Relations
Phone: 02 8298 0411
Mobile: 0409 830 439
ENDS
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