A date has finally been set for a decision in the long-delayed bank charges court case.
The decision will be given next Wednesday, 25th November, at the Supreme Court in London, when the judge will decide whether the charges can be judged as being fair or not by the Office of Fair Trading (this ruling does not in itself say whether they are unfair or not, just whether they can be judged that way by the OFT – confusing, I know).
At one point, bank charges were massive news, but they’ve slipped off the radar over the past couple of years as the court case has gone on and claims were frozen, and as other stories have taken precendence. But a ruling against the banks could mean millions of customers start to get refunds on the estimated £2bn the banks made from these charges.
What is slightly galling is that now that some of the banks are effectively taxpayer-owned, we could essentially be paying back the charges from our own money! Also, this is not necessarily going to be an end to the story, as the banks could still challenge the ruling. Just another reason to hate the banks.
photo credit: steakpinball