ABC News Australia:
"A class action is being launched in Australia against local and foreign banks for repayment of dishonour and late fees.
Official figures show the banks collected nearly $1.2 billion in such fees in the 2008 financial year.
The class action, being run by a subsidiary of litigation funder IMF, will relate to honour and dishonour fees on bank accounts, and over limit and late fees on credit cards.
The big four banks - Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, National Bank and Westpac - recently scrapped or reduced many of those charges.
Financial Redress, the subsidiary behind the class action, says the claims will pursue exception fees deducted from accounts over the past six years.
Tony Burke, acting chief executive of the Australian Bankers Association, says his organisation has seen media reports that IMF is taking the class action.
"If IMF proceeds, then ultimately it is for the courts to decide the merits of this claim," he said.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are the solicitors running the action against Australia's 12 biggest banks.
The case will be based on the claim that the fees are illegal because they amount to a penalty rather than a legitimate fee.
The law firm's Bernard Murphy says, if successful, the class action could generate billions of dollars in compensation.
"It's a very substantial action because, for example, in 2008 alone the Reserve Bank state these exception fees totalled $1.2 billion," he said.
"So there is an estimated claim value in the order of $5 billion."
Consumer group Choice believes there will be strong public interest in a class action.
Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn says he has joined the class action as a private individual because there is an important legal issue to be tested.
"We would imagine that there is real appetite for remedy on behalf of the public," he said.
"Given the feedback we've had over the years, [such as people] writing to the bank saying what are you doing charging us these very high fees for what are often fairly mundane breaches, [like] being a bit late paying a credit card transaction?"
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