(14 April 2010 – Australia) A customer of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was shocked to find her bank account A$1,158 healthier at the beginning of this week, however she was surprised furthermore to learn that she could be charged an honesty fee by the bank to verify the correct owner of the funds.Trish Andrews visited a branch of the Commonwealth Bank after discovering the extra funds in her account to try and correct what she believed to be an error.
The bank’s employee then told Ms Andrews that she would be charged a A$12 fee to trace the money if it did indeed belong to her.
Ms Andrew said she received the funds from Eden Temp Support, an agency that Ms Andrews was not familiar with, the Whitsundays Times reported.
A spokesperson for Commonwealth Bank confirmed that the fee had been charged to Ms Andrews account, despite the funds not being confirmed as being hers, however did add that the fee would be refunded if it turned out the money was not hers.
Ms Andrews said she was aware that you can be charged with misappropriating funds if you spend money that isn’t yours and was keen to clear the matter up.
Ms Andrews said she was surprised to hear she would be charged a fee for trying to do the right thing.
The bank is continuing to investigate.