Banks may face further 8 million bank charges claims

The UK's banks could yet be flooded with another 8 million bank charges claims, says Which?.

New figures from the consumer champion show that, of around 12 million people that have been hit with bank charges since July 2001, over three in five (63%) haven't asked for their money back.

With the Supreme Court's ruling on the test case due on 25 November, the banks could face a deluge of new complaints should the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) win. This is in addition to the estimated million plus claims that are currently on hold.

Around four in 10 claims (42%) waiting to be resolved are for amounts of £500 or more, with four in ten people waiting for a claim resolution (41%) saying that they would use any refunded money to pay off bills or debts and around two in 10 saying they would spend it on shopping (20%) or a holiday (18%).

Which? personal finance campaigner, Phil Jones, says: "If the Supreme Court rules against them, the banks could find themselves staring down the barrel at millions of fresh claims. This is in addition to the huge backlog that's already built up since the waiver was put in place.

"With so much money at stake, the banks may well try to drag the process out even longer, so we'd warn people not to make any plans for their refunded cash just yet."

Which? has launched a new banking campaign - Britain Needs Better Banks - and anyone who has been treated shoddily by their bank can visit  bnbb.org to share their experience or for information about how to make an official complaint.