Flex commissions class action against Westpac & St. George Finance
The class action is about “flex commissions” paid by Westpac and St. George Finance to car dealers. The Plaintiffs allege that Westpac and St. George Finance allowed car dealers to set the interest rates on consumers’ car loans; and paid higher commissions to car dealers when they set higher interest rates on those loans. The Plaintiffs allege that the car dealers’ conduct resulted in consumers paying higher interest rates on their car loans than they otherwise would have done; that it constituted “unfair conduct” for the purposes of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth); and that Westpac and St. George Finance are responsible for the car dealers’ conduct.
Group members had a consumer car loan arranged through a car dealer between 1 March 2013 and 31 October 2018 with Westpac, St. George Finance, Bank of Melbourne or BankSA.
Proposed settlement
The parties have agreed to settle the proceeding for $130 million including legal costs. The proposed settlement has been agreed on a no admission of liability basis.
The proposed settlement is subject to the approval of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The Court will conduct a hearing on 27 August 2025 at 10:30 am to decide whether to approve the proposed settlement and, if so, how the settlement sum will be distributed to group members.
If the Court approves the proposed settlement, it will bind all group members, except those who opted-out of the proceeding.
Notice of proposed settlement
Potential group members were sent a notice about the proposed settlement via email between 20 and 25 June 2025. The notices were sent via email from one of the following email addresses:
A copy of the notice is available here.
If you have previously registered for the class action on our website, there is nothing further you need to do to participate in the proposed settlement at this stage.
If you have not previously registered for the class action on our website, you may:
Register. If you would like to participate in the proposed settlement you must register by 23 July 2025.
Do nothing. If you do not register by 23 July 2025, you will not be entitled to any money from the proposed settlement, if approved, but you will still be bound by it. This means that any claims you may have against Westpac and St. George Finance for issues arising from or relating to the claims made against them in the class action will be extinguished.
If you have opted out of the class action, you are ineligible to participate in the proposed settlement.
Object to the proposed settlement
If you are a group member and would like to object to the proposed settlement, you may do so by completing a notice of objection and emailing it to westpacflexca@mauriceblackburn.com.au by 17 July 2025.
A notice of objection form is available here.
Any group member who objects may appear (in person or by audio-visual link) before the Court at the hearing of the application to approve the proposed settlement on 27 August 2025 at 10:30 am. Any objections will be considered by the Court in determining whether to approve the proposed settlement.
If you want to object to the proposed settlement, but nevertheless participate in it if it is approved, you should register as set out above.
FAQs for the flex commissions class action against Westpac & St. George Finance
If you received a notice of proposed settlement, you have either:
- been identified as a potential group member in the class action by Westpac or St. George Finance; or
- previously registered for the class action.
If the Court approves the proposed settlement, the settlement sum will be distributed to eligible group members pursuant to a settlement distribution scheme.
A copy of the proposed settlement distribution scheme is available here.
The settlement distribution scheme is subject to approval by the Court. The settlement distribution scheme aims to deliver a simple, fair and cost-effective way to distribute the settlement funds to eligible group members.
Under the proposed settlement distribution scheme, the settlement sum will not be divided equally between eligible group members. This is because group members’ claims have different values, risks and complexities associated with them.
We are unable to provide group members with an estimate of the amount of money they will receive if found eligible to participate in the proposed settlement. This is because any amount of compensation they receive will depend on a range of factors, including the:
- number of group members who register to participate in the proposed settlement;
- terms of their loan contract; and
- date on which they entered their car loan contract.
At this stage, we are unable to tell eligible group members when they will receive compensation.
The Court will be asked to approve the following deductions from the settlement sum before the remainder is distributed to eligible group members.
Legal costs:
The Court has made a “group costs order” of 24.5%, which means that Maurice Blackburn Lawyers will be paid 24.5% of the settlement sum (i.e. $31,850,000) for the work and risks it took in running the class action from July 2020 to August 2025. The Court may adjust the group costs order percentage if it considers an adjustment to be appropriate.
Plaintiffs' reimbursement payment:
The Court will be asked to approve a reimbursement payment of $40,000 to each of the Plaintiffs to compensate them for their time associated with acting as the plaintiffs in the class action.
Settlement administration costs:
The Court will be asked to appoint Maurice Blackburn Lawyers as the scheme administrator to implement the settlement distribution scheme. There will be an estimated $3,005,200 in settlement administration costs. This estimate depends on certain assumptions, including the number of group members who register to participate in the proposed settlement. The costs of the settlement distribution will be offset in part by the interest earned on the settlement sum. The Court may fix a lower or higher amount of settlement administration costs if it thinks that a different figure is appropriate.
You will not be asked to pay any out-of-pocket costs.
As outlined above, the amount of the group costs order, Plaintiffs’ reimbursement payments and settlement administration costs will be deducted from the settlement sum before the remainder is distributed to eligible group members.
Notices for the Allianz car dealer add on insurance class action are not relevant to the flex commissions class action against Westpac and St. George Finance. They concern a separate class action. Please review any notice you receive to understand what you are required to do. More information about the Allianz car dealer add on insurance class action is available here.
Contact us
If you have any questions regarding the above, you can contact our team on:
If you would like to update your contact details please send an email to westpacflexca@mauriceblackburn.com.au with your full name, your registration identification number (if you have it on hand) and your new contact details. Make sure you put "Change in Contact Details” in the subject line of your email.
Flex commissions class action against Macquarie Leasing
The class action is about “flex commissions” paid by Macquarie Leasing to car dealers. The Plaintiffs allege that Macquarie Leasing allowed car dealers to set the interest rates on consumers’ car loans; and paid higher commissions to car dealers when they set higher interest rates on those loans. The Plaintiffs allege that the car dealers’ conduct resulted in consumers paying higher interest rates on their car loans than they otherwise would have done; that it constituted “unfair conduct” for the purposes of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth); and that Macquarie Leasing is responsible for the car dealers’ conduct.
Group members had a consumer car loan arranged through a car dealer between 1 March 2013 and 31 October 2018 with Macquarie Leasing.
Car loans that were entered with ANZ (Esanda) and transferred to Macquarie Bank in March 2016 are not part of this class action. Those car loans are part of the flex commissions class action against ANZ and Macquarie Bank.
Proposed settlement
The parties have agreed to settle the flex commissions class action against Macquarie Leasing for $56.5 million including legal costs and taxes. The proposed settlement has been agreed on a no admission of liability basis.
The settlement is subject to approval of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The Court will conduct a hearing on 20 August 2025 to decide whether to approve the proposed settlement and, if so, how the settlement sum will be distributed to group members.
If the Court approves the proposed settlement, it will bind all group members, except those who opted-out of the proceeding.
The deadline to register to participate in the proposed settlement of the flex commissions class action against Macquarie Leasing has passed.
Group members were able to register their claims between 22 May and 19 June 2025. This was a Court ordered deadline and Maurice Blackburn does not have discretion to accept late registrations.
FAQs for the flex commissions class action against Macquarie Leasing
If the Court approves the proposed settlement, the settlement sum will be distributed to eligible group members pursuant to a settlement distribution scheme.
A copy of the proposed settlement distribution scheme is available here.
The settlement distribution scheme is subject to approval by the Court. The settlement distribution scheme aims to deliver a simple, fair and cost-effective way to distribute the settlement funds to eligible group members.
Under the proposed settlement distribution scheme, the settlement sum will not be divided equally between eligible group members. This is because group members’ claims have different values, risks and complexities associated with them.
We are unable to provide group members with an estimate of the amount of money they will receive if found eligible to participate in the proposed settlement. This is because any amount of compensation they receive will depend on a range of factors, including the:
- number of group members who are eligible to participate in the proposed settlement;
- terms of their loan contract; and
- date on which they entered their car loan contract.
At this stage, we are unable to tell eligible group members when they will receive compensation.
The Court will be asked to approve the following deductions from the settlement sum before the remainder is distributed to eligible group members.
Legal costs:
The Court has made a ‘group costs order’ of 24.5% in this proceeding. This means that Maurice Blackburn Lawyers will be paid 24.5% of the settlement sum (i.e., $13,842,500) for legal costs and the risks it took in running the class action from October 2020 to 20 August 2025. The Court may adjust the group costs order if it considers it appropriate to do so.
Plaintiffs' reimbursement payment:
The Court will be asked to approve a reimbursement payment of $40,000 to the Plaintiffs to compensate them for their time associated with the class action.
Settlement administration costs:
The Court will be asked to appoint Maurice Blackburn Lawyers as the settlement administrator to implement the settlement distribution scheme. We estimate that there will be $1,533,000 in settlement administration costs associated with implementing the settlement distribution scheme.
You will not be asked to pay any out-of-pocket costs.
As outlined above, the amount of the group costs order, Plaintiffs’ reimbursement payments and settlement administration costs will be deducted from the settlement sum before the remainder is distributed to eligible group members.
Contacting Maurice Blackburn
Please continue to review this website for updates on the flex commissions class action against Macquarie Leasing.
If you need to update your contact details, please email the team at macquarieflexca@mauriceblackburn.com.au with your new contact details. Make sure you put “Change in Contact Details” in the subject line of your email.
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Australian leaders in class actions.
Our reputation for excellence in class actions is unparalleled, having recovered more than $5 billion for clients.
We are the only Australian class actions firm to deliver $100m+ settlements to clients in shareholder and listed securities actions, which we have done on ten occasions.
Lower cost to clients
Biggest recoveries
Most experienced
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