Some ASB customers are receiving a payout from the bank that totals hundreds of dollars. Photo / NZME
Some ASB customers are receiving a payout from the bank that totals hundreds of dollars. Photo / NZME
Hundreds of dollars are landing in the accounts of nearly 200,000 ASB customers after the bank settled a class action claim over accusations it breached its disclosure obligations under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA).
Payments of up to almost $600 began showing up in affected customers’ bankaccounts on a rolling distribution basis after the High Court approved ASB’s $135.6 million settlement offer in January.
Some perplexed recipients took to social media after discovering the $571.82 “ASB credit” in their account before a letter of explanation arrived from the bank.
The 191,000 people eligible for a payment receive either $285.91 or $571.82 depending on which of two groups they are divided into under the settlement, with almost 170,000 in line for the larger payment.
“Anyone else get some $$?” one wrote on Reddit last month.
“Didn’t even know this was going on, thought someone accidentally put it in my account.”
Several others wrote about receiving the payment.
“Just found this thread searching to confirm that the $571 in my account is, in fact, from that class action and not a bank error or something. An email giving us a heads up would be nice, but I’m not going to complain too loudly!”
ANZ was also the target of a class action lawsuit alongside ASB in 2021, with ASB settling in October and ANZ continuing to fight. Photo / Alex Burton / Portable Images
The Australian-owned bank settled after four years of court action over allegations ASB failed to provide compliant written disclosure of loan variations to a significant number of customers.
The affected customers had requested changes to their lending arrangements between June 6, 2015, and June 18, 2019.
As part of the settlement, ASB made no admission of liability or wrongdoing.
The settlement divided those eligible for payments into two groups, an ASB spokeswoman said this morning.
“We began making payments and communicating this in February. We expect this process to be completed by November this year, depending on our ability to contact class members.
“In the meantime, there is nothing customers need to do.”
ASB chief executive Vittoria Shortt said in October the settlement was a “pragmatic way to settle this matter”.
Scott Russell, the lawyer representing the ASB plaintiffs, said at the same time the settlement provided “certainty, avoiding what would otherwise be a very long and expensive fight through the courts”.
The Banking Class Action was filed in 2021 on behalf of New Zealand ANZ and ASB customers, making it one of the country’s largest class action lawsuits.
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