(RNN) - Some people complain about being "nickeled and dimed to death," but in Australia, one bank nickeled and dimed people after they died.
Commonwealth Bank in Australia is being investigated for unethical banking practices, including charging financial advisory fees to long-dead customers.
Evidence given at a government inquiry indicated that one financial adviser knew a customer died in 2004 but kept charging advisory fees for a decade - getting $65 a month in 2014 and 2015, the Guardian reported.
For the financial adviser, all those fees added up. He was hauling in an extra $780 a year (or $1,000 Australian) from a dead client, the Associated Press said.
The financial adviser said he didn't know what to do and had contacted the public trustee, to no avail.
In other examples of apparent financial malpractice that came to light during the hearing, two other advisers were charging fees to customers who had been dead for years.
Another adviser was charging fees to a dead client, as well as charging fees to customers when there was no evidence of services being rendered.
Commonwealth Bank is under investigation by Australia's banking royal commission for a host of fee issues.
The bank had been receiving complaints of fees being charged for no service for years but didn't take action until 2014, the Associated Press reported.
Commonwealth Bank has since refunded about $1.85 million in Australian currency to customers who were charged errant fees.
On Wednesday, the bank admitted to being the "worst financial services entity in Australia for charging customers fees for financial advice they never received," the Guardian reported.
Not surprisingly, the bank is now less popular than the Australian taxation office, according to a poll by news.com.au.
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