The Coalition will attempt to overturn the government's ban on exit fees in the Senate through a vote in the Senate.

According to a Fairfax report, the Coalition will need two crossbench votes to overturn the DEF ban. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon told Fairfax he will side with the Coalition, and that a unilateral ban on DEFs will ultimately disadvantage consumers.

"If you adversely impact on the smaller lenders, it will hurt consumers, and the big four banks will be laughing all the way back to themselves. We need to go back to the drawing board," Xenophon said.

The success of the Coalition's bid could depend upon the vote of Family First Senator Steve Fielding. However, Treasurer Wayne Swan has decried the move to scrap the exit fee ban, accusing Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey of enacting a "cheap political stunt".

"I am just gobsmacked that Mr. Hockey and the Liberal Party could talk about bringing back unfair mortgage exit fees as high as $7,000," Swan commented.

Consumer group Choice has also lambasted the move, and claimed that smaller lenders will be able to accommodate the ban. Choice head of campaigns Matt Levey told Fairfax overturning the ban would be a "retreat from genuine reform".

"Business models based around trapping consumers in uncompetitive deals through complex and costly fees have no place in a reformed banking sector. Removing exit fees will pressure lenders to compete on up-front price and customer service, or else face the risk of customers moving their money to get a better deal," Levey said.