 Darling letters.
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November 2006 _ otu .... . n .. .„
The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP our ref: osjv/599280
House of Commons Your «* nb/ob
London SW1AOAA
Thank you for your letter of 7 November, enclosing correspondence from your constituent, Mr xxxx xxxxxxxx of xxxx xxxxxx xx xxxxx, about penalty charges levied by banks.
I know the whole issue of default charges levied by financial institutions is something that has been attracting increasing attention over recent months. The Office of Fair Trading has been looking at this issue in the context of the level of default charges imposed by the eight major credit card companies. The OFT wrote to the eight leading credit card issuers in July last year to advise them of their provisional conclusion that they are not entitled to recover more in default charges than a reasonable pre-estimate of their costs in dealing with the default, and requested them to change their approach.
The OFT produced a statement of the principles they think card issuers should follow in order to set fair default charges. This is intended to protect consumers from being charged unfair amounts, but also to enable banks to compete vigorously and fairly. The banks were asked to confirm by 31 May their response to this statement and their willingness to make any necessary adjustments to their credit card default charges. In response to this, credit card issuers have agreed to reduce their default charges - the majority by almost half.
ALISTAIR DARLING
As a result of the subsequent reduction in charges across the market, the
OFT is satisfied that no further intervention is warranted in this area at
this time and that this change has brought about substantial benefits for
consumers. The OFT remains of the view that the broad principles do
read across to the retail banking area and has decided to undertake
further work on the application of these principles to bank current
accounts. This fact-finding exercise is expected to take up to
March 2007, at which stage the OFT will consider whether a further
detailed investigation of the fairness of individual bank default charges is
needed.
ALISTAIR DARLING
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