Misleading ads cost NAB $40,800

It seems the National Australia Bank is not having 'The BEST $2014 EVER'.

NAB has been fined $40,800 for potentially misleading consumers in advertisements for a UBank home loan product where it offered a $2,014 EFTPOS gift cards.

Using slogans like "The BEST $2014 EVER" and "Own $2014", NAB advertised the gift cards as free for borrowers who took out UBank home loans. The advertising campaign covered newspapers, radio and online media between December 2013 and March 2014.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had concerns that NAB were not disclosing all the relevant details in some of the advertisements, including minimum loan size and a requirement for documents to be provided within five days.

Some advertisements also failed to mention that to be eligible for the offer borrowers had to use FASTRefi, an electronic settlement process, for refinanced loans. There was also a limited number of cards on offer, which went undisclosed.

The bank received four infringement notices from ASIC, each with a penalty of $10,200.

According to ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell, ASIC has taken action against 10 organisations so far this year.

"ASIC will continue to take action where we believe firms have not provided clear, consistent information in their advertising", he said.

Following ASIC's actions, UBank gave a $2,014 gift card to all borrowers who applied for a UBank loan within the relevant period and settled their loan.