News on Reclaiming Bank Charges

23/05/07 : Bank Charge Complaints Rise

The number of complaints to financial watchdogs about bank charges rose by 47 per cent last year to more than 20,000, figures released today show.

In the face of growing customer dissatisfaction about bank charges, the Financial Ombudsman Service says it is now receiving 1,000 complaints every week about the extra money people are having to fork out.

16/05/07 : Banks bullying tactics to frustrate claims to get illegal charges back.

Millions of customers have demanded their bank charges be returned.

But banks are not paying up willingly. Some of the ploys used by the banks to put off customers from reclaiming all their charges include: using spurious legal language; saying that the Ombudsman cannot look at their case; threatening that if the customer pursues their claim then they could end up paying the bank's ' considerable' legal costs; and claiming that there have been High Court judgments which have found against the customers.

27/04/07 : Judge attacks 'time-wasting' bank

A judge has ordered a bank to pay the costs of a customer who sued for the return of overdraft fees, because the bank had wasted the court's time.

The Judge at the Bristol County Court, ordered the bank to pay full costs for "acting unreasonably".

He said the bank had had no intention of defending in court the claim for refund of unfair bank charges

It is thought to be only the second time that a court has awarded costs in these circumstances.

30/03/07 : Bank Charges

Last year, after an investigation into the industry, the OFT imposed a £12 cap on credit card default charges and said the principle had a 'read across' to current accounts.

In September the OFT announced that it would be formally investigating the penalty charges being imposed on current accounts and it would make an announcement in March or April 2007.

Yesterday, it admitted it needed more time to thoroughly investigate the issues and a wider study was needed. The OFT says it will announce at the end of April the scope of the wider investigation. A definitive response, including how much it thinks banks can charge to deal with defaults, will be given at the end of the year.