The Rock in a hard place
Customers of The Rock Building Society, which has strong ties with some financial planning companies, were overcharged more than $150,000 in unjustified fees over the past year.
The account discrepancies, which caught the attention of the corporate regulator, included customers being charged fees on supposedly fee-free accounts and overcharged interest repayments on loan accounts.
Between November 2009 and November 2010 the Queensland-based building society overcharged almost 7,000 accounts, taking more than $150,000 in unwarranted fees.
More than 1,600 loan accounts were charged default fees of more than $90,000 in circumstances where the fee wasn’t warranted, while more than 3,500 loan accounts were overcharged on interest by more than $16,000. Meanwhile around 1,800 children’s deposit accounts were incorrectly charged account-keeping fees of $52,000.
The Rock is giving refunds and interest adjustments to the affected customers.
The building society has committed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that it will improve its internal procedures, including putting in place new complaints handling policies and new compliance training programs for staff. The regulator said it would monitor The Rock’s implementation of the measures.
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