Office Of Fair Trading Test Case

[judi3]

on channel 4 the banking representive specified that thiS action was
for Unfair overdraft fees NOT PENALTY CHARGES

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[tifo]

what about offers they've sent? I've had some 50% offers this week and a few with the Ombudsman. Good thing i accepted some last week.

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

[noomill060]

I love the bit about banks "working closely" with the OFT.

They are being dragged kicking and screaming into the High Court.

"Working closely" in the same way as any other dodgy trader does when he gets collared by Trading Standards.

[malaga1]

i thought it said that current claims would be up to the courts to decide

[lindsay22]

i have just seen martin lewis on channel 4 news, its not good news for the people who are claiming it probably will take years.

[dori2o]

The announcement refers to Unauthorised overdraft fees, what about bounced DD fee's?

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[tifo]

Originally Posted by judi3

on channel 4 the banking representive specified that thiS action was for Unfair overdraft fees NOT PENALTY CHARGES

what's the difference?

when we don't have enough money in our account and go OVERDRAWN they make a charge (i see the point that the charge is for returning the payment and not going overdrawn).

what exactly are unfair overdraft fees and why does this not apply to charges?

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[noomill060]

Originally Posted by judi3

on channel 4 the banking representive specified that thiS action was
for Unfair overdraft fees NOT PENALTY CHARGES

He would, wouldnt he?

Penalty charges are unlawful...

[Amanda Taylor]

Has anyone else seen martin Lewis on Channel 5 News,Bank Charges Claims Suspended as from Tomorrow????

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[HONESTKNOB]

Just seen the Ch4 programme too...... Do we all have to stop claiming now for anything up to 2 years??

[dokie]

just watched channel 4 news ...apparently all court claims for bank charges are suspended while OFT LAUNCH HIGH COURT TEST CASE.
Is this true ??

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[david1961]

thats it then we are all doomed and i have wasted loads of my time not to mention the court fees

[noomill060]

Looks like it, but assuming the banks lose, you'll get another 2 years contractual interest.

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[dori2o]

Originally Posted by dori2o

The announcement refers to Unauthorised overdraft fees, what about bounced DD fee's?

Anyone?

Also, did anyone else notice that despite the BBA woman stating they wanted to ensure consumers would get their say, the actual process will have NO consumer input.

[tomterm8]

The most interesting thing about this is what the case DOESN'T cover. it covers the UTCCR and common law arguments that current cases rely on. it DOESN'T cover the unfair relationship terms of CCA 2006.

In effect, if the banks win, the result of the case will be void before the high court reaches its verdict.

[tifo]

Originally Posted by noomill060

Penalty charges are unlawful...

so our claims for refund of charges for returned payments are OK .... yet?

people are getting confused, we need clarification.

[Enron]

Martin Lewis was present to respond to the woman who was present from the banking ombudsman.

Interestingly, he said that unless the banks refunded all penalty charges automatically as a result of this case then the OFT and FSA may have helped the banks in halting all claims until the test case is over.

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[Yanni]

Just received an email from FOS - everyone claiming should read the this OFT and banks etc going to High Court - see link

FAQs complaints about bank charges

Below is text of email


ombudsman agrees that High Court "test case" is necessary - to settle legal uncertainty on unauthorised overdraft charges
26 July 2007
In light of the agreement announced today between the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and a number of representative banks - to take a "test case" to the High Court about unauthorised overdraft charges - the ombudsman service has confirmed it will put on hold its own work on complaints about these charges, pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.
The law is one of the issues that the ombudsman has to take into account when making decisions on individual cases - and this important "test case" involving OFT and the banks is expected to give vital clarity on the key issues of law involved in disputes about unauthorised overdraft charges.
Responding to the news about the proposed High Court "test case", Tony Boorman, principal ombudsman, said today:

• "This year the ombudsman service has been dealing with tens of thousands of enquiries and complaints about bank charges - and county courts across the UK have similarly been coping with significant volumes of bank-charge claims."
  "In the cases that the ombudsman service has settled so far, all disputed unauthorised overdraft charges have been repaid - but on a voluntary "goodwill" basis, without the ombudsman reaching the stage of investigating the merits of the legal issues. Meanwhile, cases heard in the county courts have so far resulted in a range of outcomes - with inconsistent and unpredictable judgments and no clear legal precedent being set."
  "So it's in the interests of everyone involved - consumers with current accounts, the courts, the banks and other current-account providers - that the High Court "test case" announced today should settle the legal uncertainties relating to the level, fairness and lawfulness of unauthorised overdraft charges."
  "We agree that it's also in the general interest for the ombudsman service to suspend its own work on complaints about unauthorised overdraft charges, while waiting for the High Court to make a decision on the significant legal issues involved."

It is expected that the decision by the ombudsman service to suspend further work on complaints about unauthorised overdraft charges will be reflected by a similar response by the county courts. For the county courts and the ombudsman service, the High Court "test case" should mean that very significant volumes of cases can be managed in a fair, cost-effective and orderly way. The ombudsman service's decision to put complaints on hold - while the key legal questions are answered - does not affect consumers' ability to bring complaints to the ombudsman about other banking-related problems, including financial difficulty or hardship.
To help with the fair and orderly management of consumer complaints about unauthorised overdraft charges, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced today that banks and other current-account providers can also put cases on hold, pending the "test case" decision. Once the law has been clarified, it should then be possible for these cases to be settled in line with what the High Court decides.
There is more information about how today's "test case" announcement affects complaints to the ombudsman service in the ombudsman's consumer factsheet on unauthorised overdraft charges:
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/bank-charges.html

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

[lol114]

Hi all

This is a bolt out of the blue, this has not been hinted at all, and I find it all highly suspicious.

I guess we wait.

Linda

[malaga1]

the OFT website says current claims will be up to the courts. But the banks will be granted a waiver so they do not have to answer to any more complaints now