National Australia Bank (NAB) has made the announcement in response to last year’s royal commission, and touted that by the end of September, customers will be able to bank cheques up to $1,500 with no fees attached, through a mobile deposit app.
Banking fees were among a number of practices that were investigated during the banking royal commission, as the banks faced criticisms for unfair profit-driving initiatives.
NAB chief customer officer Rachel Slade said the fee blitz, which began in May, is part of NAB’s commitment to reduce complexity, be simpler and faster for customers as well as reduce complaints.
“It’s an important milestone to eliminate 100 fees and the need for an entire ‘legal fees and charges booklet’ detailing fees previously charged to business lending customers,” Ms Slade said.
A $10 monthly service fee for access to NAB Connect was first removed in July. Since that time, customer applications have increased by 5 per cent.
NAB reported that more than 8,000 customers have saved on $15 credit card late payment fees, following the introduction of a waiver for customers who had paid the minimum monthly amount due on time over the previous 11 months.
According to the bank, its actions to reduce fees have already provided an estimated 30 per cent reduction in credit card late payment fees complaints.
“These improvements are a welcome change for our customers and we anticipate it will simplify our business too, with thousands less calls for information and support coming to our customer contact centres,” Ms Slade said.
By the end of September, NAB outlined that it will no longer charge:
- Legal fees for business lending customers, which currently attract more than 2,000 complaints per year
- “Repeat statement fees” when customers request bank statements
- Fees applied when issuing or cashing foreign currency (fee applied on top of conversion rate)
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