Watchdog makes pledge over bank charges

The UK consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading, has recently promised the no matter what the outcome of the ongoing battle against the banks in relation to bank charges it will still continue to pursue these charges as unfair.

The legal battle over bank charges has been raging between the banking industry and the Office of Fair Trading since the start of last year, and following an appeal by the banking industry has now ended up at the House of Lords.

The initial rulings were in favour of the Office of Fair Trading, which was given the right to assess banks’ terms and conditions for fairness, which included assessing the controversial overdraft and bank charges that have been at the centre of the legal action.

When addressing the five law lords at the House of Lords a senior official from the OFT said that it was not just bank charges that were of concern to the watchdog but also the way in which bank accounts were operated and run.

The legal battle between the watchdog and the banking industry has already experienced many delays, having started in the High Court in January of 2008. The banking industry has appealed on a number of occasions, causing further delays to the conclusion of the case, and it appears that there may still be further delays as the House of Lords may refer some of the issues to the European Court of Justice.

In the meantime the overdraft charge claims of millions of customers remain frozen until the legal battle has come to an end. If the banks lose the appeal it could spell disaster as they could be liable to repay billions of pounds in refunded bank charges to the many customers who have put claims in.

Tags: senior official, bank accounts, overdraft charge claims, action, office of fair trading, bank charges, cheque, initial rulings