Stung with massive fees on automatic payments over the years, financially-struggling solo parent Lana Cole is urging fellow Northlanders to join a class action against New Zealand's major commercial banks to claim back what she terms "unfair penalty charges".
Ms Cole is among between 800 and 900 Northlanders and more than 25,000 disgruntled bank customers nationwide who've signed up to Fair Play on Fees - a website set up by Auckland-based lawyer Andrew Hooker, Australian consumer law firm Slater and Gordon and Litigation Lending Services.
The three are suing ANZ and have said BNZ, Westpac and ASB, along with state-owned Kiwibank, are also in their sights in a massive class action lawsuit to reclaim fees charged when customers overdraw their accounts, pay credit card bills too late, or bounce a cheque.
ANZ, including its recently rebranded subsidiary National Bank, will be the first target under the lawsuit, with documents to be filed in the High Court at Auckland next week.
Ms Cole has urged those who felt hard done by banks to stick to their rights.