Southern Cross Finance to refund borrowers up to $700,000
The Commerce Commission's enforcement branch manager Graham Gill says before the Commission's investigation in 2009, Southern Cross Finance had been charging customers an establishment fee that was generally about 1-2% of the loan advanced.
"In the Commission's view, establishment fees for consumer loans that are a percentage of the loan advanced are inherently unlikely to reflect the actual cost of establishing a loan and be reasonable," says Gill.
As part of the Commission's investigation, Southern Cross Finance had calculated its actual average reasonable cost of establishing or renewing a consumer credit contract at around $1,000.
"So a borrower who took out a $250,000 mortgage could have been charged $5,000 as an establishment fee and therefore overcharged by $4,000" says Gill.
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