A lawyer leading the fight against alleged excessive bank fees says 20,000 people have joined a proposed class action case to claim the money back.
The legal action, announced earlier this month, is being led by Andrew Hooker along with the Australian class action experts Slater and Gordon and a litigation funder, Litigation Lending Services.
These lawyers say up to one million New Zealanders could be eligible to claim back excessive default fees, estimated to be around $1 billion over the past six years.
Mr Hooker says customers at some banks are charged on average $15 every time they overdraw their accounts, pay their credit card late, or bounce a cheque, but it only costs the bank a few cents.
He says with the overwhelming interest so far, the case is on track to proceed next month.
Mr Hooker says there are still thousands more people who could benefit from the action.
