For Melbourne mother Jordan*, it wasn't so long ago that she was juggling taking care of her children while trying to escape a domestically violent relationship.
While fleeing from her abusive partner, she had to make a series of overdraws on one of her three Commonwealth Bank accounts, because she simply needed the money to feed her kids.
Those overdraws placed Jordan in a mountain of spiralling debt, with the overdraw fees and the interest charged on the unpaid fees growing to over $2000, which she now can't afford to pay on her Centrelink income.
On several occasions, she called the bank and attempted to negotiate an outcome, but they refused to waive the fees and told her going into a financial hardship arrangement would put a mark on her credit score, something she doesn't want to do.
"The woman from the bank kept triggering me and saying 'how did he make you spend the money?' She kept saying that and asking me to justify this and that," Jordan says.
"I ended up in tears, I felt shamed. I'm so humiliated. I am losing sleep over it and have done so for nearly two years. I'm not a complainer and if I had the money, I would pay it off in a second."
CommBank called out by ASIC
Commonwealth Bank has been singled out by the corporate regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for charging over two million customers on Centrelink incomes, like Jordan, account keeping and overdraw fees for years when they should have automatically transferred them into fee-free accounts.
ASIC estimated the bank has pocketed some $270 million in unfair fees which they're now refusing to pay back. Last year CBA brought in over $10 billion in profit.
Other major banks called out by ASIC announced they would begin remunerating customers who should never have been charged fees in the first place. But CBA is refusing to follow suit.
For their part, the bank says some in the concession customer group have "varying levels of income, savings and home ownership" and that the relevant account fees were properly disclosed to customers at the time.
"In addition to the steps we have taken, CBA is reviewing individual cases where customers may have incurred unusually high fees and is considering goodwill adjustments where appropriate," a bank spokesperson says.
We asked the bank about Jordan's case and whether it highlighted inadequate staff training and the bank declined to directly respond, saying they couldn't comment without knowing the customer's identity.
They added that their team were ready to assist the customer.
Advocates question bank's "good will"
Kirsty Robson, a financial counsellor from Consumer Action Law Centre, who is helping Jordan make a complaint to the financial Ombudsman, says CBA's sincerity in saying they will make "goodwill" payments is highly questionable.
"The bank says they will be kind and compassionate, then you have this woman who has called the bank and they are incredibly defensive. Why are they putting it through the ringer for such a small amount of money? It's ridiculous," Robson says.
CHOICE head of policy Morgan Campbell agrees that cases like Jordan's highlight serious questions about CBA's "goodwill" claims for all of the cohort who have been charged unfair fees.
"There are 2.2 million CommBank customers who were charged fees that should never have been charged. None of them should have to jump through hoops to get that money back, and especially not someone who has been through family violence," he says.
*Not her real name
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