Top Ten Ways Banks Make Mistakes

If you think politicians are the only ones that make mistakes with your hard earned cash then your thinking may be a little naive. Just because a bank is dealing with your home loan statements does not guarantee that they will be error free.

A recent survey in the Sydney Morning Herald stated some pretty frightening statistics. The study investigated 200 monthly mortgage statements and the critical findings were….

54% of loan statements had errors
84% of these were in the Banks favour
The average monthly error was a staggering $242

Remember that these are just monthly errors. Imagine this figure compounded over the life of your loan.

You could be like thousands of fellow Australians out there who are losing thousands of dollars to banking errors.

The question is how do these banks make these errors?
I have listed below the top ten ways banks make these mistakes.

1.The Wrong Interest Rate was Applied
e.g. 7.75% instead of 7.25% (If this was not discovered the resulting extra interest paid would come close to $10,000.)

2.The Interest was charged at least one day earlier than it should
This could potentially cost you thousands in extra interest.

3.The Interest was calculated on an Incorrect Balance
e.g. the loan balance used was $110,000 but the balance should have been $101,000. This could cost you at least $20,000.

4.A Payment was credited at least One Day to Late
Additional Interest like this, over the course of your loan would cost you thousands.

5.When Calculating Interest Wrong Dates are Used
The bank charges additional interest by calculating the interest debit on the daily balance one or two days prior to the date on the statement.
The bank pays less interest by calculating the interest credit on the daily balance one or two days after the date on the statement.

6.A wrong Amount is Credited to the Account
e.g. $22.50 is credited instead of $225.00
e.g. $1,075 is debited instead of $175.00

7.Your Repayment Amount Ends up credited to another account
This can happen easier than you think. A simple typo can see your payment end up in someone else’s account.

8.Charging Interest after every transaction
It is usual to charge interest at the end of the month but many banks are now charging interest whenever a deposit is made. This means that making extra payments is of no benefit as it effectively increases the interest rate on the loan.

9.Changing or Ignoring the Rules
Without informing you the bank changes your principal and interest loan to an interest loan only.

10.Payout Figure is Too High
The Outstanding balance is too high.
The wrong penalty formula is used.
The payout date is used for calculation resulting in an extra day’s interest being charged.

If you would like to know how to combat the bank’s mistakes and get back what your owed see my resource box.