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Adelaide Bank and HSBC

The Shonky for Last Banks Standing goes to... Adelaide Bank and HSBC.

shonkys hall of shame 2008
CHOICE staff
CHOICE staff
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Last year, Westpac accepted a Shonky on behalf of the Big Four banks for unfair penalty fees. 

HSBC

Adelaide Bank and HSBC continue to charge shonky penalty fees.

Most banks have since reduced or dropped a number of those fees, at least on some accounts.

However, Adelaide Bank and HSBC continue to soldier on with a fee that's particularly unfair and difficult to justify – the inwards cheque dishonour fee. 

If you deposit a cheque into your regular transaction account with these banks and it bounces, you'll be charged $12 and $5, respectively.

A popular defence the banks use for charging penalty fees is that consumers can avoid them by keeping track of their spending, regularly checking account balances, and so on. 

However, there's no way you can avoid a third party doing the wrong thing and not honouring a cheque they wrote to you.

Charging these fees is just shonky, and CHOICE urges Adelaide Bank and HSBC to drop them on all accounts.