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Unfair Bank Charges

Claim Unfair Bank Charges And Keep All The Money

Banks are believed to make between £2 and £3.5 billion a year in fees charged when customers go into unauthorised overdraft.

Unfair Bank Charges Download our FREE simple to follow information pack today to make a valid claim for compensation and receive and keep all the compensation awarded. Why pay fees or charges to a company when you can do it yourself and keep all the money, most companies can charge as much as a third of what you get back, in some cases charging up-front fees which can run into hundreds of pounds.



November 2009

Waiting for news from the House of Lords and the OFT

The hearing at the House of Lords, the latest stage in the historic test case, ended on 25 June 2009. We now have to wait for its decision on whether charges can be subject to fairness rules.


1 April 2009

House of Lords allows banks appeal

Banks have been given permission by the House of Lords to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision that bank charges can be subject to fairness rules.


February 2009

Banks lose High Court appeal

The judges in the bank charges test case appeal have ruled in favour of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The banks have announced that they will try to appeal again, but you can still take action if you've paid unfair overdraft charges.


22 January 2009

FSA waiver is extended for a further six months

The FSA announced this morning it's extending the current bank charges waiver by a further six months.


24 April 2008

The UK's biggest banks have lost a test case about overdraft charges.

A judge has decided that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can apply consumer contract regulations to decide if bank overdraft charges are fair or not. But Mr Justice Andrew Smith said the judgement did not necessarily mean the charges are unfair. Further hearings are expected which may delay the cases of thousands of claimants trying to reclaim their charges through the courts. Cases currently on hold in the county courts will stay on hold until 22 May, by which date the banks must decide whether they are going to appeal against the ruling. But the judge also decided against the OFT, saying that most of the banks' terms and conditions were clear and intelligible.

Test Case

This judgement continues the process which could eventually allow the OFT to decide what a fair charge would be for unauthorised overdrafts. Both the banks and the courts have been deluged with claims since the beginning of 2006, which they were finding very difficult to deal with but, since both sides agreed to stage the test case, tens of thousands of claims have been put on hold in either the county courts or with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The BBC has estimated that last year the banks refunded about £784m to nearly 378,000 customers.

Further cases

The OFT first agreed last July, with seven banks and the Nationwide building society, to stage the test case to decide if it had the power under consumer contract regulations to regulate overdraft charges. The issue of the OFT's jurisdiction was then thrashed out during 14 days of complicated High Court hearings in January and February. Further High Court hearings are now expected to decide the exact level of charges, leading to further delays for hundreds of thousands of claimants.

What will happen next?

The banks have the option to appeal the decision. If this happens then the FSA waiver is likely to remain in place during the appeals process. This means that all pending cases in the county courts or with FOS are likely to stay on hold and banks will continue to charge overdraft fees. If the banks decide not to appeal, then their Terms & Conditions will be assessed for fairness. Where current terms are unfair, the OFT will agree a fair charging regime with the banks – effectively placing a cap on the level of overdraft fees.