Which?: Bank charges test case

Bank charges victory - As the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) announce legal action against UK banks over unauthorised overdraft charges, consumers should not be put off reclaiming their charges, says Which?.

Doug Taylor, personal finance campaigner, Which?, explains: “This announcement is a victory for common sense. In April 2006, we called for the FSA to investigate whether bank customers have been treated unfairly and this process will finally give legal certainty.

“A lot of time and money could have been saved if the banks had not tried to evade questions about their charging structures for the past year. It’s unfortunate that it has to go to court, but at least we will get a decision that banks cannot dispute.

“If the court does find that banks have been acting unfairly we hope they will proactively compensate all consumers who have been charged for going over their overdraft limit in the last six years.

“We hope that this will be a speedy process so consumers are not left in limbo, but in the meantime people should not stop claiming. Anyone who thinks that they have been charged unfairly by their bank should use the template letters at www.which.co.uk/bankcharges.”