BBA: Banks' permission to appeal

The BBA said: "Today the Judge has set out the next stages in the test case on bank fees for unarranged overdrafts.

"The April judgment decided that the bank's current terms and conditions that relate to these fees are not 'penalty charges', that these terms are in "plain and intelligible" language, or substantially so, and that unarranged overdrafts are part of the essential services banks provide to their personal account holders.

"The court also considered the terms could be assessed for fairness under the UTCCR regulations but that did not mean that the charges were unfair. The banks are to appeal this part of the judgment as they consider these types of fees are fair and the regulations do not apply to them. However, it is also in the public interest to have full clarity and it is only the Court which can make the final decision on whether the charges are fair.

"We will work closely with the courts and with the OFT to bring this to a conclusion as quickly as possible"