National Australia Bank (NAB) will simplify and reduce the number of fees the bank charges as part of its drive to be simpler and more transparent for customers.
Key points include:
- The first 50 fees will be removed by the end of June with a view to addressing hundreds more over the next two years.
- First round includes removing $10 NAB Connect monthly service fee.
- Changes to NAB Connect fees to benefit around 65,000 customers.
- Launch of $15 late payment fee waiver on consumer and commercial credit card payments for customers who have paid the minimum monthly amount due on time in the 11 previous months.
NAB’s Chief Customer Experience Officer Rachel Slade said the bank needed to simplify the fees it charged as well as improve the transparency where they were charged.
“We’ve heard from our customers that some fees are complex and confusing,” Ms Slade said.
“We have more than 400 fees across our operations and we see a big opportunity to radically reduce this number by simplifying the way we charge fees, and in many cases, removing them altogether.”
The first round of 50 fees focus on business banking customers and will include abolishing the monthly $10 NAB Connect (internet banking for business customers) payment service fee and another nine fees associated with NAB Connect features. These changes alone will benefit around 65,000 customers.
In addition to addressing fees, NAB will recognise customers who have a track record of paying the minimum monthly repayment on their credit cards. From July, NAB will waive the $15 late payment fee on consumer and commercial credit card payments for customers who have paid the minimum monthly amount due on time in the 11 previous months. Around 20,000 customers will benefit from this improvement every month.
NAB has also launched initiatives to improve transparency, including SMS reminders for consumer credit card payment due dates and amounts. About 600,000 customer messages will be sent every month to help customers make their payments on time.
Ms Slade said customers understood that fees and charges were associated with some products and services but the bank needed to act when they were complex or had the potential to be misunderstood.
“We listen to customer feedback to help inform us on where we can make improvements. We will continue to take action – such as simplifying our fees – to be the bank that customers want.”
This announcement follows recent actions NAB has taken including:
- Abolishing NAB’s ‘Introducer’ payments program, effective 1 October.
- Keeping all NAB branches open in regional and rural Australia until at least January 2021.
- Opening four customer connect centres in Toowoomba, Tamworth, Bendigo and Bunbury to service regional, agribusiness and small business customers.
- Extending the protections of the Banking Code of Practice to small businesses with less than $5 million in total borrowings, up from the previous agreed level of less than $3 million.
- We have taken action, or are in the process of taking action, on 26 of the final royal commission report’s recommendations.
NAB also continues to be the only major bank in Australia to provide a personal transaction banking account (with a linked debit card) which has no monthly account keeping fees and no minimum monthly deposit required.
