Slater and Gordon is preparing the nation’s largest class action in history against Australia’s biggest banks.

Picture: Joel Carrett   Source:AAP

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Record class action launched against Australia’s banks

 

By Joe Hildebrand

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

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IT’S billed as the country’s largest class action in history and up to five million Aussies are preparing to sue our biggest banks.

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EXCLUSIVE

UP TO five million Australians could get thousands of dollars back from the big banks under what is set to be the largest class action in the nation’s history.

Law firm Slater and Gordon will today launch an unprecedented wave of legal action on behalf of around one in three Australian workers believed to have their super invested as cash with the banks.

It is estimated the landmark lawsuits could get some account holders as much as $3000 back and end up costing the banks more than $1 billion.

An issue is the fact that bank-owned super funds have been busted putting members’ money into the parent bank instead of the bank that offers the best interest rate — meaning workers are often paid between 0.5 and 1 per cent less interest than they should be.

The firm estimates that for someone with $100,000 in cash just a 0.5 per cent difference could have cost them about $3000 in only six years.

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In another case study, someone with just $25,000 in cash in an AMP retail fund would be almost $1600 worse off after only five years compared to someone in an industry fund, getting just 1.41 per cent interest and higher fees, compared to 2.59 per cent and lower fees.

It is estimated that around one in three working-age Australians — about five million people in total — have some form of super in cash with retail funds, which are often owned by the big banks.

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READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: 

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/record-class-action-launched-against-australias-banks/news-story/e2fa23644d189b742e24cee49b40a84c