If I was thinking clearly I would have written;
It's only going to get worse as Alzheimers se
:The banking industry has admitted that nearly $1 billion worth of fee income is at risk once a new consumer law governing unfair contracts comes into force next January.
Described last week by the competition regulator as a significant piece of legislation, the Federal Government's proposed unfair contracts laws will pose a direct attack on the penalty fees levied by the banks, consumer advocates say.
In particular, the industry will have to justify $40 late payment and overdraft fees that lawyers claim are significantly higher than the real charge for the banks, which are estimated to be less than $1 per transaction.
Data released by the Reserve Bank in May revealed that bank customers paid $1.2 billion in penalty fees out of a total of $11.6 billion of fee income the banks earned in 2008.
The industry has accepted that more than three-quarters of the penalty fees - $954 million - could be avoided by consumers.
two of the podcasts i look forward to are both australian, the hamish and andy show (mon - fri) and Country Breakfast (a weekly round up of rural news)
