The Guardian - Outfits offering to reclaim bank charges under scrutiny

A string of new companies set up to help customers reclaim bank charges and payouts after accidents could be breaking the rules of a new regulator created to police the burgeoning claims management industry.

By April 23 all companies offering advice on claims, from personal injury to bank charges, need to be authorised by the Department of Constitutional Affairs' new Claims Management Regulation body.The new regulator has already found 30 organisations that have sprung up to offer advice on reclaiming bank charges.

After being alerted by the Guardian, one of its first inquiries is likely to be into the Blackpool-based The Banking Advice People. The company offers to help refund bank charges but made repeated false assertions in a cold call to a Guardian reporter's mobile.

Claims Management Regulation has been created by the government to make it an offence for companies to provide claims management services without authorisation. Customers have begun to inundate their banks with claims for fees levied over the past six years, after the Office of Fair Trading deemed them excessive. The Financial Ombudsman service, which resolves disputes between firms and customers, saw complaints leap last month to some 1,200, with about 2,000 inquiries a day. It followed calculations by Which? the consumer body, that bank customers could see up to £3.5bn in unauthorised overdraft charges by the end of year.

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