Commonwealth Bank is the recipient of “a special prize” in Choice’s 2025 Shonky awards for failing its low income-customers, with the consumer advocacy group singling out Australia’s biggest bank for charging the cohort a collective $270m in unfair fees.
“When Asic caught a number of major banks charging low-income customers with excessive fees this year, CBA stood out from the pack,” said Choice’s CEO, Ashley de Silva.
The customers affected were eligible for low or no-fee accounts, which should have been designated automatically. While other major banks issued refunds to their customers, “CBA initially refused”.
CBA has since claimed it will issue refunds on a case by case basis, says Choice, but “we don’t know how many of those customers have received refunds or what amount of that $270m is going back to customers.”
A spokesperson from CBA said: “In July, we committed to making goodwill adjustments where appropriate to customers who have incurred unusually high fees.
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“For eligible concession customers, we have paused certain fees, including overdraw and monthly account-keeping fees. Following Asic’s Better Banking for Indigenous Consumers report, we made approximately $25m in goodwill payments to approximately 87,000 accounts.”
It’s the fourth time CBA has been shamed in the awards, which spotlight Australia’s worst products and services as decided by Choice. The bank is now the “most awarded” company in its 20-year history.
Temu safety concerns
In 2024, Choice tested 15 children’s products from Temu containing button batteries against Australian safety standards, which are mandatory for button batteries. They found every single product failed at least one of those standards.
Though Choice says Temu stopped selling those 15 button battery products, de Silva says it is not the only case where an item bought through Temu has caused harm.
In 2024, an eight-year-old girl in Queensland suffered burns to 13% of her body after a Temu hoodie she was wearing caught fire. The hoodie was found by the ACCC to be noncompliant with mandatory safety standards and is no longer on sale – “but it took four months, which is a really long time, to come offline,” de Silva said.
De Silva also noted Temu’s failure to commit to Australia’s voluntary safety pledge, which online marketplaces Amazon and eBay have signed up to.
A spokesperson from Temu said “consumer safety is a top priority”.
“While we do not manufacture products ourselves, we take platform responsibility seriously. We’ve invested significantly in compliance measures, including robust seller vetting, pre-listing checks and ongoing monitoring using both automated systems and human review. We act swiftly to remove listings when there is a concern.
“In the incidents cited by Choice, all affected items were promptly removed, and we’ve since further strengthened oversight in higher-risk categories.
HCF policy price hike
Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund HCF was given a Shonky for “sneakily” closing a policy, then opening a more expensive policy with similar cover.
The health fund closed its Premium Gold policy to new members in late February, then launched a “nearly identical policy” called Optimal Gold – at a 34.6% price increase.
“It’s an industry-wide issue, but this was the worst we’ve seen,” said de Silva. Insurers are required to seek government approval for their premium increases, but this move sidesteps the process.
In response, a spokesperson from HCF said it changed its Gold policy to help keep it “accessible, equitable, and sustainable”.
“These changes apply only to new sales and are in full compliance with industry standards and regulations,” the spokesperson said. “Existing members on Premium Gold products purchased prior to February 2025 were not impacted by this change.”
HCF said it will comply with any changes in legislation or regulation.
“Challenges with Gold-hospital sustainability reflect broader sector pressures, driven by higher costs from complex claims, particularly in mental health,” the spokesperson said.
Entire energy retail sector shamed
Choice slapped a Shonky on the whole energy retail industry for “sneaky pricing tactics designed to confuse”. De Silva said it’s “a very widespread issue”, and comes when “84% of Australian households are worried about paying for their energy”.
“Australian energy retailers have an obligation to periodically tell customers proactively if they could be on a better deal and they do that by communicating it on your bill,” said de Silva.
“The issue is: they’re sometimes referring to a better deal, but it’s got the exact same name as your current deal … It’s not unless you go online and get into the details that you realise it’s a plan with the same name but different rates.”
Choice estimates Australian energy customers could have saved as much as $65m a year if retailers made it clear new plans with the same names were cheaper.
Since launching in 2006, the Shonkys have shamed major supermarkets for cashing in during the cost-of-living crisis, a stick vacuum that “sucks at sucking” and Qantas for steering customers to flight credits even when they were entitled to refunds.
“Over 20 years, there have been many examples of where the Shonkys have delivered major wins for consumers,” said de Silva. “We continue to find them year after year.”
