NAB trims down its business fees
National Australia Bank said it is removing more than 100 fees from its products and services over the next few days, as part of what it has characterised as "a fee clean-up program". According to an announcement yesterday, the fee clean-up process has been rumbling along so that, by the end of this month, NAB will no longer charge:• legal fees for business lending customers, which the bank said have attracted more than 2000 complaints per year;• 'repeat statement fees' when customers request bank statements; and• fees for issuing or cashing foreign currency (that is, the fee applied on top of the conversion rate).The bank gave no indication of the cost of this program, although The Australian has reported that the removal of a A$10 a month charge for internet banking to business clients, which is levied on 65,000 customers, will cost NAB $8 million. Meanwhile, NAB has sent more than 1.8 million SMS credit card payment reminders to customers since launching in March 2019. The bank said that "more than 8000 customers have saved on $15 credit card late payment fees", following the introduction of a waiver for customers who had paid the minimum monthly amount due on time in the 11 previous months.Actions such as the SMS reminders and $15 late payment fee waiver have seen an estimated 30 per cent reduction in credit card late payment fee complaints, the bank said. "We anticipate it will simplify our business, with thousands less calls for information and support coming to our customer contact centres," Slade said. The initial review was to cover 50 types of fees, and has since expanded to take 100 fees off NAB's books, out of an estimated 400 bank fees.Other fee reductions, such as those relating to dishonour cheque charges and ATM usage, merely recognise the inevitable decline in revenue as cash and cheque payments continue to fade.