OFT and Banks to decide on "fair charge"

Nathan_Spleen

Now the dust is starting to settle it's now becoming clear just who's calling the shots in the ''test case''.

Far from the OFT taking the banks to court, it's the banks themselves
who have initiated this move as the BBC makes clear:

''The Office for Fair Trading (OFT) said that the lenders had approached the UK's financial watchdogs in order to sort out the problem and agreed to the test cases in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.''

The OFT has been reported to have been negotiating the terms of the case for ''at least a month''. Hardly the work of an iron-fisted regulator.

The banks have made this move to pre-empt any cap on charges the OFT were due to make in December and spin it out for as long as possible.

Interestingly absent from the OFT's case is any mention of discloser of the
of the bank's charge costs. This is no doubt a condition the banking industry have insisted upon and will no doubt contribute to the already lengthy timetable.

So, the banks are quids in. The initial case could take years. Banks will of course appeal any decision that goes against them and only after that
will the OFT ask for disclosure and that could drag on for ages. Only then
can the OFT act on capping the charges.

In the meantime the banks have engineered the remarkable situation where they can stop people claiming and carry on charging indefinately.

The OFT are being taken for ride. I simply cannot see this being resolved within this decade.

k1mmie

I think they will still supply your information, but from what I can gather, you will then be put in a holding queue, so that any claim you put through will just sit there until they the ruling. So you may as well still go through the motions. However, its going to be one hell of a queue!

cyberman_3

yellowmonkey wrote: »

Hello.

Well we all know this is annoying but don't beat yourself up about this. Try not to keep thinking about 'what if i had done this sooner'. Hindsight is a wonderfull thing but,i know,i do not have this gift. This will drag on and i have a sneaky feeling the courts will find in favour of the banks. I really hope not but there is nothing i can do about this at the moment.
Dont get me wrong i was 9 days away from finding out if they were going to settle(Nat west)my charges. Over £1000 for me but 'Ce la Vie' i am not going to beat myself up about this as i can look back and see other instances of if i had done these lottery numbers etc things would be different. I made my claim and the timing was wrong:rolleyes: .

Lets wait and see the outcome and go from there.

Hope you can all have a good day and 'chin up'. I am trying to.

ym

PS. A Monty python song comes to mind " Always look on the bright side of life.,do,do,do,do.

YM, Unless the courts decide that the current law is wrong, there is no reason why the OFT will not win.

yellowmonkey

Believe you me i really hope they do. :T :T :T :T

ym

yellowmonkey

Hi

I'm afraid to say that you may be right :mad:

ym

techspec

Natwest say the case will take about a year.

A year, just to decide if the unfair conracts regulations apply.

What a swizz.

Nick74_2

Hi

This morning I was half way through putting in my claim against Nationwide on MCOL when I decided to check this site as I heard abouth the test case last night on the news. I'm really not sure wheather to continue or not, the general gist i'm getting is not to bother now, wait & see what happens.
God it's so fustrating, waited so long for statements etc. etc just when you think you're getting somewhere, this happens!!!!
Is it only people with court DATES that are still going ahead??
I've read a few posts this morning that people have contacted their local courts & been told that their hearing will go ahead.
Sorry if this has been answered already, like most people, in a state of shock about all this!!!

Thanks

angelcake

But surely this is a straight case! The banks are charging 'unlawfully' therefore the case shouldn't take long! They should admit defeat and do the honest thing! They shouldn't be allowed to do this. If one bank, say Lloydstsb backed down and changed its proposals to be more customer friendly (it is our money after all) they will benefit in the long run as they would get more customers and 'look' better.... They should at least offer to refund half, if not more, of the charges! they are going to have to sooner or later so why not now and look the 'better bank' ... Or am I going along the wrong road?

keithyreeves

Surely, if the charging structures are in dispute and the banks have been allowed to suspend payments out until a decision has been made, that they should also suspend charges being applied for going overdrawn for the same period of time. What's the betting however that this doesn't happen...

I was just about to claim back nearly 4k from Lloyds as well... grrrr :mad:

techspec

We've been sold out by the OFT. Big money speaks, yet again.

I only have one bank account left, which i had forgot about, as i closed it 4 years ago. The rest are credit cards, which are unaffected.

So i am one of the lucky ones, but i really feel for those of you who's claims have been cut short by the OFT. It's a disgrace, and the banks know it.