OFT and Banks to decide on "fair charge"

edines33

The Office of Fair Trading will begin its High Court bid to prove bank charges for unauthorised overdrafts are unfair.
Tens of thousands of consumers have complained about the charges, which are levied on people who breach their authorised overdraft limit, with many taking their bank to court.
The OFT, which has been investigating the issue since March, said the banks did not accept the unfairness rules of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations applied to the charges.
It said in a statement: "The OFT believes that they do and is seeking to establish this legal principle clearly in the court.
"The OFT considers that a quick determination of this point of principle will assist in securing a clear, orderly resolution of the fairness of these charges."
It added that it had decided to take action after being unable to secure voluntary compliance. The charges can be as high as £39 for bouncing a single payment.
Consumer and financial websites have encouraged the revolt, with many providing letters that people can download.
The test case will involve Abbey National, Barclays, Clydesdale, the HBOS group, which includes Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which includes NatWest, and Nationwide Building Society.
Both sides have agreed to the court case as a way of deciding whether the charges are legitimate. This means, however, that thousands of people who have made claims against their banks will have to put them on hold until the completion of the court case.
The British Bankers' Association said that the banks still believed the fees for unauthorised overdraft charges were clear and fair.

whats this mean??? will this effect our claim as its being defended in court! we have the date 9th october......................
do you know im actually starting to think that im not going to get my money back!

emma
xx

maxinex

martin lewis is live on radio 5 live after the news now

toniq

Hi,

I just got of the phone with Natwest, i had an offer of £1960 (claimed£2200) and had only sent the acceptance off yesterday by recorded delivery, how weird was that i send it just before all this, anyway natwest stated quite clearly any offers of goodwill gestures will be honoured if they are in before the expiry on them (8 weeks from date on letter) and assured me that i have nothing to worry about.

I hope that helps anyone in a similar position, i rang twice and was told exactly the same.

good luck everyone


Tq

Badger_Lady

Let's hope that we can apply enough consumer pressure here to affect the "new process"... after all, the OFT is designed to protect the consumer??

And it seems difficult to believe that banks can really 100% protect themselves behind this whilst dragging out the test case for as long as possible, perhaps hoping to stem the enthusiasm of consumers as well as wiping out those claims that are close to 6 years old.

Nick74_2

Hi Guys

Like many of you, I was getting sooooo close to an outcome, absolutley GUTTED by this.

I suppose now all we can do is sit & wait.

The end of the year seems like a long way away at the moment though!!!!

tuttiett5

Have just had a difficult conversation with Halifax
Have incurred a charge this week and rang to ask for this removing / reducing, lady at the Halifax said "no - will not conceder the charge as you have claimed you're bank charges back - and we will keep charging you for being overdrawn".
Asked to speak to customer relations which was a recorded message stating - 'the OFT and banks have issued a test case and will not conceder any claims until the outcome of this case, all claims are "put on hold" end of message' - you are then cut off

cyberman_3

Hi everyone,
Firstly, I consider that the OFT have been very underhanded by not contacting consumer groups prior to the court action. The OFT well know that countless thousands of consumers are involved and as it their job to protect us, they are letting us all down.

If the OFT lose this case, then it will up to Gordon Brown (PM) to either change the management completely, or disband them completely and start again with a system that works for the people.
The Child Protection Agency is one such fiasco.

So what are the OFT attempting to do. There aim is to uphold a law which is current in the UK.
It refers to banks not being able to charge more than their costs.
It would be difficult to understand how a Judge (who knows the law) could actually find against it.
No doubt the banks lawyers will be using clever words to disguise their actions. Now, as we all know, lawyers spend weeks, maybe months preparing for court, this action is not something that
just happened yesterday out of the blue, the OFT and other authorities clearly have been in discussion with banks for some time, preparing them for this action. Why they did not have the bottle to inform consumer groups is a question that must be asked, unless of course they don't think we have the
right to know as consumers.

Let us all hope the OFT will live up to their name "OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING"

Have the Judge(s) in this case been selected as NOT having any financial interests with the banks
IE: SHARES ? Listings of shareholders of PLC's are freely available.

On the grounds that they have FROZEN all claims whilst this goes to court, it must therefore follow that banks who wish to take action against a person must be FROZEN as well as we, the public will not be able to apply our rights to reply. It's yet another "Catch22" situation for the banks.

Clearly whilst this all going on, there must be a ruling that ALL penalty charges should cease.
If they do not apply this, the banks will still gorge themselves on our money making debts even greater and impossible to pay.
Let us assume for a minute that the banks will win. By the way, I think if they do and the OFT lets us down, there will be such a huge revolt from consumers that the Government will face a defeat and it comes at a time when Gordon Brown is over confident that he will win if an early election was called.

OK, if the banks win what will happen ????? The banks have currently placed thousands of people in severe financial problems and it will create the biggest debt problem that has ever been seen in the UK. Bankrupt will be the common word and it's all courtesy of the banks.
I am certain that Martin and his legal team will on our behalf, find a way through this.
Martin should be nominated for an MBE / OBE for his dedicated service to us all. We must all applaud Edinburghlass for her constant assistance on these forums. TRUST THEM FOLKS
REMEMBER THOUGH ..... THIS HAS BEEN FROZEN. If a bank threatens you whilst this is happening, simply write back and refer to this and state that "your rights to reply" have been taken away.

Maybe Martin could arrange a legal template so people can download

Just look at this as a breathing space. This gives you the opportunity to get yourselves another bank account (another bank) so you are no longer dependent on the bank who freely gorge themselves on YOUR MONEY

Finally, be aware that the authorities involved will be closely looking at these forums to see how the consumer reacts. So will the banks, and with a bit of luck, so will Gordon Brown

maxinex

maxinex wrote: »

martin lewis is live on radio 5 live after the news now

Sorry about that, they advertised him as being on.

tinatony1

Hi All

If this has already been answered then i apologise for having a blonde moment, what does this mean , i have recieved my statements from 1 account and am waiting for statements from the other, will i still get my statements? or will everything now stop until this ruling has reached a conclusion?

I am just cross with my self for not doing it sooner now, knowing my luck i wont get anything now, sorry for the pessimisum.

Is it still worth going ahead?

toniq

http://www.natwest.com/global_options.asp?id=GLOBAL/OVERDRAFT_CHARGES_UPDATE

That is what natwest is saying