AU - Bank in rate cut bungle

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Y2K discussion group : One Thread

WESTPAC has overcharged up to 600,000 credit card users in an interest rate bungle. The bank has admitted it failed to pass on its latest interest rate cut to new loyalty card scheme members, blaming a computer program glitch.

Westpac pledged to cut credit card interest charges by .25 per cent after the Reserve Bank lowered official rates.

But Visa card holders in the bank's new Altitude rewards program have been charged 16.9 per cent instead of 16.65 per cent since January 1.

Westpac created its own loyalty program for card holders in the wake of Ansett's collapse last year after anger over the fate of billions of frequent flyer points earned by Westpac customers.

Card holders who were linked to the airline's frozen Global Rewards system fear their stockpiled free flight points are doomed.

Ansett's administrators, Andersen, have still not publicly released details on their fate.

Westpac's replacement Altitude spending reward scheme includes flights, accommodation, car hire and shopping vouchers.

The bank's marketing general manager, Peter Hanlon, last night blamed a computer programming error for the credit card interest rate bungle.

Overcharged card holders would be compensated in their next statements, Mr Hanlon said.

About $250,000 is to be repaid nationally.

Customers alerted the bank after noticing an incorrect interest rate charge on statements.

"We began investigating this late last week and have fixed this as soon as humanly possible," Mr Hanlon said.

He said interest rate changes were usually smooth but confusion had occurred in this case because a special 2 per cent interest rate discount for Westpac Visa Global Rewards customers had expired on January 1.

The interest rate chaos comes as banks have taken another battering in a customer service survey, faring worst in a satisfaction test.

Overall, customer service standards across all industries were rated acceptable or above, the Marketing Focus study found.

But 15 per cent of consumers claimed small business had to lift its game, and 12 per cent rated big business as poor or very poor.



-- Anonymous, January 26, 2002


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