The Office of Fair Trading welcomes the Court of Appeal's very clear confirmation today (26th February 2009) that unarranged overdraft charging for personal current accounts can be assessed for fairness.

The Court found that these terms are not part of the core or essential agreement between a consumer and their bank, and therefore consumers do have protection under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations (UTCCRs) for these terms.

This judgment confirms the OFT's long-held interpretation of this important aspect of consumer law, and is one that consumers themselves would identify with. It is also relevant to businesses across the whole economy.

The OFT is now analysing the implications of the judgment for their ongoing investigation. The OFT has already written to the banks with its provisional view on the fairness of the terms, setting out its concerns that they may be unfair. They expect to reach a final decision on fairness later this year.

Source: www.oft.gov.uk

DebtWizard Comment

Four High Court judges had now come to the same conclusion as the OFT, the banks should therefore now accept defeat and start sorting out how to pay back consumers through consultation with the OFT.

It is not surprising that the banks have lodged another appeal as this will delay the process further. No comfort to those who have had their cases frozen by the FSA waiver.

In the event that the banks were to pay out then those claiming, for example from Royal Bank of Scotland, will in effect be claiming from the tax payer, you and I.

If you have incurred bank charges over the past 6 years then you may as well register a claim and join the queue in the event the bank has to pay them back.

You will need to get your statements for the past 6 years and we will show how to do this with a template letter on any one of the links below.

Just click on the one you need to see further template letters, Q & A's to help you claim bank and credit card charges as well as our much acclaimed interest calculator.

Bank charges

Credit card charges