An enforcement expenses clause in a loan agreement that requires the bank to ask the borrower to pay expenses, followed by a power to debit 'these expenses' to the loan account, must be read as requiring the bank to ask before debiting — the debiting power is not an alternative to asking. However, a bank's erroneous debit does not relieve the borrower of the independent obligation to continue making loan repayments, and a borrower who ceases repayments in response to such a debit will be in default. A bank's failure to notify a borrower before debiting enforcement expenses, while erroneous, does not without more constitute unconscionable conduct under s 12CB of the ASIC Act.
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