How do I get a bank fee refunded if I think it's wrong?
What the Banking Code says a bank must disclose before it charges a fee, how to ask for a refund in writing, and where to escalate.
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You can get it back if the fee was not in your account terms, was not disclosed, or was charged when the conditions for it were not met. The 2025 Banking Code of Practice requires 30 days' notice of any unfavourable fee change, and your bank must answer a written complaint within 30 calendar days. If it refuses, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority decides, at no cost to you.
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Is the bank allowed to charge that fee?
Only if the fee is in your account terms, you were told about it, and the trigger for it actually happened. If any of those three fails, you are entitled to a refund, not a favour.
The rules are in the 2025 Banking Code of Practice, which took effect on 28 February 2025 and binds every bank that is a member of the Australian Banking Association. Paragraph 15 requires your contract terms to clearly set out details of fees and charges, their amounts and how often they are debited. Paragraph 36 requires at least 30 days' prior notice of any change the bank believes is unfavourable to you, including a new or higher fee. Paragraph 31 says that if you are an individual the bank will tell you about a transaction service fee immediately before you incur it where that is practical, though paragraph 32 carves out dishonour fees and overdrawn fees charged on end-of-day balances.
A bank must give you at least 30 days' notice before a new or higher fee applies.
The regulator is the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). In July 2025 ASIC's Report 811 found 21 banks had charged excessive fees to low-income customers and pushed them to refund more than $93 million to about 920,000 people, on top of $28 million ordered after its 2024 review of ANZ, Bendigo, CBA and Westpac.
Banks are refunding more than $93 million in fees to low-income customers after ASIC's 2025 review.
Which of these are you looking at?
- Fee not in your terms, or higher than the listed amount. Ask for the clause; if the bank cannot point to one, it must refund.
- Fee introduced or increased without 30 days' notice. The bank breached paragraph 36. Ask for the notice date and a refund of everything charged before notice plus 30 days.
- Fee charged although you met the waiver condition. A monthly account fee waived on a minimum deposit, say. Show the deposit on the same statement and ask for the fee back.
- Account-keeping, dishonour or overdrawn fees while you receive a Centrelink payment or hold a concession card. Paragraph 57 requires the bank to tell you about its low or no fee accounts, and paragraph 59 says basic accounts have no account-keeping fees. If you were never told, ask to be moved and ask whether you fall within the bank's ASIC remediation.
- Fee correctly charged and disclosed. A late payment fee when you paid late, for example. You have no entitlement, but banks waive first-time fees on request more often than not, and must consider hardship if that is why you missed it.
What should you do first?
Step 1: Find the fee in your terms
Pull the fee schedule for your account from the bank's website and match the statement line to it. If you cannot find the schedule, paragraph 22 of the Banking Code requires the bank to give you a copy of your contract terms and fee schedule within 30 days of asking.
Check the date the fee first appeared. If it is new or higher, look for the notice the bank says it sent. No notice, or notice less than 30 days before the change, is your strongest ground.
Step 2: Ask in writing and set a deadline
Use the bank's online complaints form or complaints email, not the branch counter. Use the word complaint: ASIC Regulatory Guide 271 then requires the bank to acknowledge it within one business day and give you a written outcome within 30 calendar days. Attach the statement with the fee highlighted.
Subject: Complaint: refund of [fee name] charged on [date], account [last four digits]
On [date] you charged me $[amount] as a [fee name]. [It is not listed in my account terms / it is higher than the $[amount] in your fee schedule / you did not give me 30 days' notice of it / I met the waiver condition by depositing $[amount] on [date]].
Under paragraphs 15 and 36 of the 2025 Banking Code of Practice you must disclose fees in my terms and give at least 30 days' notice of an unfavourable change. Please refund $[amount] and confirm whether the same fee has been charged before on this account.
Please treat this as a complaint under ASIC Regulatory Guide 271 and respond in writing within 30 days. If I do not receive a refund I will lodge with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Step 3: Ask how far back it goes
A wrong fee is rarely a one-off. Ask the bank to review the account for the same fee since it first appeared. AFCA can consider losses up to six years back, so do not let the bank limit the review to the last statement.
Step 4: Keep the account in order
Keep paying what you owe while the dispute runs. Stopping a direct debit to make a point creates fresh dishonour fees and weakens your position.
What if the bank refuses?
Escalate in this order. Each rung is free.
- Insist on a written outcome. If 30 calendar days pass without a decision, RG 271 requires the bank to send you an IDR delay notification explaining why and telling you that you can go to AFCA. Silence past day 30 is itself a reason to escalate.
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). AFCA is the external dispute scheme every bank must belong to, and it is free for consumers. Lodge at afca.org.au or on 1800 931 678. You must lodge within two years of the bank's final written response, or within six years of becoming aware of the loss, whichever comes first. AFCA first tries to negotiate a settlement; if that fails it makes a determination that binds the bank if you accept it. AFCA has said it is taking longer than usual because of complaint volumes, so lodge promptly.
- Report to ASIC. ASIC does not resolve individual complaints, but a report of a bank charging undisclosed fees feeds the same reviews that produced the 2024 and 2025 refund programs. Do this alongside AFCA, not instead of it.
- Hardship, if fees are stacking up. If overdrawn or dishonour fees are mounting because you are behind, tell the bank you are in financial difficulty. The Banking Code requires it to consider a hardship request, and a hardship-related complaint must be answered within 21 days.
Chargeback does not apply here. A fee is debited by your own bank, not a merchant, so the card scheme dispute process has nothing to reverse. A tribunal is also the wrong forum: AFCA covers banks, costs nothing and its determinations bind the bank.
You have two years from the bank's final response to lodge with AFCA.
If you receive a Centrelink payment or hold a Health Care Card, Pensioner Concession Card or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, ask your bank directly whether you were included in its ASIC fee remediation. ASIC's Report 811 (July 2025) found many eligible customers had been left in high-fee accounts for years; the banks agreed to move more than a million customers to low-fee accounts and refund fees, with the remaining $60 million still being paid out after the report. You do not have to wait to be contacted.
What doesn't work
- Phoning and leaving it there. A call rarely becomes a logged complaint, so the 30-day clock under RG 271 never starts.
- Accepting "it's in the terms and conditions". Ask for the paragraph and the notice date; banks often cannot produce either.
- Disputing only the latest fee. If the fee was wrong this month it was probably wrong last month; ask for the full history.
- Cancelling direct debits in protest. That generates new dishonour fees and gives the bank a reason to say later fees were valid.
- Taking a goodwill credit as the end of it. A one-off credit without an admission leaves the fee in place for next month; ask the bank to confirm in writing whether it was correctly charged.
- Waiting past two years from the bank's final letter. AFCA can refuse a complaint lodged late unless there are special circumstances.
Common questions
The bank says the fee is in the terms and conditions. Is that the end of it?
No. Ask the bank to quote the clause and to show the notice it sent when the fee was introduced or changed. The Banking Code requires fees to be clearly set out and 30 days' notice of unfavourable changes. If it cannot show both, the fee was not properly disclosed and you can insist on a refund.
Can I get fees refunded from years ago?
Often, yes. AFCA can consider a loss you became aware of up to six years ago, and the ePayments Code uses the same six-year limit for complaints. Ask the bank to review the account from the date the fee first appeared, and lodge with AFCA within two years of its final written response.
I receive Centrelink payments. Should I be paying account-keeping fees at all?
Usually not. The Banking Code requires banks to tell concession card holders about basic and low or no fee accounts, and basic accounts have no account-keeping fees. ASIC's 2024 and 2025 reviews made banks refund more than $120 million to low-income customers kept in high-fee accounts. Ask to be moved and ask about a refund.
Does the bank have to warn me before charging an overdrawn or dishonour fee?
Not at the moment it happens. The Banking Code asks banks to warn individuals about transaction fees before they are incurred where practical, but it specifically excludes dishonour fees and fees based on end-of-day balances. The fee must still be in your terms, and you can still ask for a waiver if it was a first or one-off event.
How long does the bank have to answer my complaint about a fee?
Thirty calendar days. ASIC Regulatory Guide 271 requires a written outcome within 30 days of receiving a complaint, or 21 days if it involves a hardship notice. If the bank needs longer it must write to you before the deadline with the reason and tell you that you can go to AFCA.
- Australian Banking Association, Banking Code of Practice (28 February 2025)
- ASIC, 24-136MR ASIC approves enhanced Banking Code of Practice
- ASIC, Regulatory Guide 271 Internal dispute resolution
- ASIC, 25-148MR Banks to put more than $93 million back in the pockets of low-income customers after charging excessive fees
- ASIC, 24-153MR Big banks to refund millions in fees to low-income customers following ASIC report
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority, AFCA's process
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