Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has called on bank executives to hand back bonuses earned while their employees were fleecing customers, as more harrowing stories emerge of people mistreated by unscrupulous lenders.

In apparently off-the-cuff remarks in Melbourne on Friday following a meeting with banking victims, Mr Shorten said people who stole from banks were jailed but "if the banks steal from you they [executives] get a bonus".

"People shouldn’t be getting bonuses in order to rip people off ... the rewards in the system are all wrong," he said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says people who steal from banks are jailed, while bankers who rip off customers are rewarded. Credit:AAP

"I think it would be very healthy of people who have been in charge of banks and the boards to hand back some of their remuneration they've made over the last few years ... whilst [their banks] were exploiting ordinary Aussies.