Banks Are Thieves

An interesting time for bank customers in Australia. After the debacle in the UK, [Office of Fair Trading (Respondents) v Abbey National plc & others (Appellants) UKSC 2009/0070, the UK Supreme Court case of 25 November 2009], in which five judges unanimously declared that penalty fees for dishoured and honoured direct debits, overdrawn accounts, and dishonoured cheques were no longer such, and were merely applications for credit, and thus legally enforceable rather than unenforceable fees, we at BanksAreThieves.org had thought that with such a powerful persuasive precedent, although not binding on Australian Courts, that suing banks here for refund of fees, interest, and exemplary damages for fraudulent misrepresentation had effectively come to an end. That was reinforced by a decision in S.A. in October last year, Girlinde Sedlaczek v Police Credit Union [2009] SAMC 73 12 October 2009.

However, it seems that Australia will ignore the UK precedent, and Maurice Blackburn, a class action specialist law firm, will be launching an action against 12 banks.

BanksAreThieves.org, in conjunction with another law firm, will be launching our own class action, rather better than Maurice Blackburn’s, since we will be suing for refund of fees, interest and exemplary damages, whereas Maurice Blackburn will not, as of their information to date, be suing for exemplary damages. Thus per claim, we anticipate receiving considerably more back than Maurice Blackburn. Please see and fill in our claim form if you wish to be a part of this action.