Westpac to refund banking and insurance customers $65 million after discount blunder

Westpac has today announced that up to 200,000 insurance and banking customers may be eligible for a share in $65 million worth of refunds following a failure by the bank to properly apply discounts to certain package deals.

The bank has admitted that the error is likely to affect Westpac customers who held Premier Advantage Packages, or customers of St. George, the Bank of Melbourne or BankSA who have held Advantage Packages, since 2010.

While customers automatically receive their entitled discounts for products such as home loans and credit cards, other products including home insurance and term deposits appear to have been impacted by the error.

George Frazis, Head of Westpac Consumer Banking, assured customers that the process of applying discounts has now been automated in order to avoid a repeat of the issue.  

“Westpac apologises unreservedly for a process that did not suit customers,” he said in a statement.

“At Westpac, our business depends on building long term relationships with our customers. So when we get something wrong, we want our customers to have confidence that we will put it right.”

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Mr Frazis admitted that some business banking packages may also have been affected by the error, and as a result not received the entitled benefits.

While the bank stated that they will be in contact with affected customers, they have also set up a website for customers with any questions or concerns.  

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