The High Court has granted leave to the representatives in the ANZ bank fees case to appeal the judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court.IMF Bentham, the litigation funder supporting the class action, said it was likely the matter would be heard by the High Court early next year.In 2014 the Federal Court ruled that ANZ's late payment charges on credit cards were penalties, rather than fees, and that the rate imposed by ANZ was too high.In April this year, the Full Court upheld ANZ's appeal that the late fees were reasonable.The judgment said: "There was no dishonesty; there was no trickery or sharp practice; the fees were fully and not unfairly disclosed; the applicants were not vulnerable, nor were customers generally; the fees could be avoided by the customer; these applicants chose to run their affairs by risking the fees; there was no victimisation, predation or taking advantage of the applicants, or, on the evidence, of anyone; the bargaining power to set the terms was real, but the customer was not forced to deal with the bank or to incur the fees; there was no lack of good faith by ANZ. 

"Though the fees, from one perspective, may be seen to be high in the eye of the consumer, they were openly charged and can be justified, not irrationally. It was not demonstrated that customers could not go to financial institutions that did not charge these fees."The application to the High Court argued that the decision that the fees were not unconscionable, unfair or unjust was an error.The ANZ case, Paciocco v ANZ Banking Corp, is the first of a series of class actions against Australian banks in respect of a range of "exception fees".Those other actions are on hold pending the outcome of the ANZ case.