This is Money - Bank charges latest: Carry on claiming

Carry on claiming. That is the message for bank customers seeking refunds of unfair penalty charges, despite the long-awaited test case being brought in the High Court yesterday.

Thousands of people who are in the process of claiming refunds will have to wait until the outcome of the case, which has been sought by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the main High Street banks to resolve the issue one way or the other. But campaigners said the public should carry on making claims regardless.
Until the court has delivered its judgment – and it is unclear how long that may take - the Financial Services Authority has told the banks they can suspend the handling of complaints. As a result, all existing and subsequent claims will be recorded by banks, but any potential refunds will be put on hold until the outcome of the case is known.

Offers already made to customers will be honoured if customers choose to accept them rather than waiting to see what the court decides. Banks will also be writing to the courts requesting a stay of all claims that are pending until after the outcome of the test case. The FSA said it did not think it was in the interest of consumers for the complaints to continue to be handled in the current 'inconsistent way'.

Marc Gander, co-founder of the Consumer Action Group, said he was very excited at the prospect of a test case. 'I'm completely confident that the court will find in favour of consumers – we are going to win,' he declared before proceeds began in London today.

He urged bank customers to carry on with their claims so as not to miss out on potential refunds. 'There is a six-year limitation period. When this case is over, it may be that everyone will still have to bring legal action to get their refunds, so they will lose out if they wait.'

Gander added that it was very important to keep up the pressure on the OFT which had been 'bowled over' by consumer action on the issue.

His view was supported by Doug Taylor, personal finance campaigner with consumer group Which?. He said: '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. 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.'

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