By XAVIER SMERDON
A WERRIBEE great grandfather is not letting his age stop him from taking on his bank.
James Crouch is getting ready to celebrate in 102nd birthday, but since 2006 he has been writing countless letters to his bank, ANZ, over a dispute about interest payments.
Mr Crouch first started questioning interest payments he was receiving in his Passbook Deeming Account, a special account set up for pensioners.
After receiving several letters from different departments in ANZ claiming that no mistake had been made with his account, he finally received an admission from the bank in 2010.
The bank claimed that they had applied incorrect interest rates to his account over several months in 2010.
They offered him a payment of $250 to settle the issue but Mr Crouch said he has no intention of taking the money.
He said the money he was saving was for his five great grandchildren, who are aged between six months and 16-years-old, and all live in England.
“I don’t want this bank to have one more dollar of my money than they deserve,” Mr Crouch said.
“I still have all my faculties but they are trying to take me for a ride.
“If it has happened to me imagine how many other pensioners around Australia it has happened to. If you added it all together it would be quite a packet.”
Born in 1911 in Deptford, England, Mr Crouch said he wanted all the money he felt he was entitled to.
In letters to Mr Crouch the bank has admitted that they firstly made a mistake with his interest payments, then calculated the amount he was entitled to incorrectly and finally gave him an incorrect explanation as to what had happened.
A spokesperson from ANZ said that as a gesture of goodwill they were willing to reopen their offer of $250 to Mr Crouch.
“On a number of occasions since 2006, Mr Crouch has raised issues with the interest calculations on his Passbook Deeming Account,” the spokesperson said.
“We have provided Mr Crouch with numerous detailed explanations of how interest amounts are calculated, and have assured him the miscalculation in 2010 was a one-off issue.”
