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Bankwest to refund $5 million in overcharged interest

Bankwest recently discovered that approximately 10,800 of its customers had been overcharged almost $5 million in interest due to an error in linking offset accounts to home loan accounts opened between 2007 and June 2016.

An offset account is a transaction account that is linked to a mortgage account. It reduces your interest payable as interest is only charged on the net balance, i.e. your mortgage balance less your offset account balance.1

A similar breach at another bank had previously been identified by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), prompting Bankwest to undertake an internal investigation. Once the error was identified, Bankwest reported the issue to ASIC and contacted affected customers.

You can read the full ASIC media release here.

If you believe you may have been affected by the error please call our Telephone Advice Line on (08) 9221 7066 for a free, confidential discussion.

1 Money Smart: https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/glossary/o/offset-account

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