Fresh Hope for Bank Charge Reclaims?
Last month, the Supreme Court overturned the decisions of both the High Court and the Appeal Court and ruled that the OFT is not authorised to assess the fairness of bank charges. This bank charges verdict came as a huge shock and disappointment to millions of consumers who thought they might be able to have the excessive charges refunded.
However, moneysavingexpert.com Guru, Martin Lewis, has been working with legal experts since the ruling in November. The Supreme Court seemed to almost hint that there might be other legislation under which the charges might be disputed and it’s this little flicker of hope that has led Lewis and the legal team to their newest campaign. They now believe that millions could claim bank charges back if the OFT launch another campaign to have bank charges deemed unfair under the Consumer Credit Act.
The Office of Fair Trading has yet to release an official response to the new legal findings. As things stand, there are an estimated 1 million bank charges claims on hold. If the bank charges are found, through whatever legislation, to be unfair and the banks are forced to refund them, it will cost them an estimated £10 billion.
As illustrated on the bank charges timeline the charges ’scandal’ has been ongoing now since 2005 and it doesn’t look like there’s an end in sight just yet!