Hmmm, asked to leave.. FTAdviser.com - FSA's Clive Briault to leave

Told ya: Sell BSkyB - interactive investor and the telling line....... The long-term decline started in July 2007........hmmmmm......when did bank charge refunds stop?

Dosen't matter anymore, they've missed the boat. This country is drowning in a sea of insolvency and debt. If they'd sorted bank charges six months ago it could have been postponed or avoided for a while - but it too late now. This is the second 1929.

And on a day when they had to admit this as well........ "Market participants and consumers may lose confidence in financial institutions and in the authorities' ability to safeguard the financial system,' the FSA noted." ROUNDUP UK's FSA warns trouble ahead as business models come under strain UPDATE - Forbes.com ha.

I remember this - it was great.

great find....just completed it.

Total corporate and personal insolvency looms. Will at .75 basis cut stem the slide? Unlikely......the stock market may get a quick bounce........but basically its resting on a cushion of air now.........the dollar is being trashed........at the end of the month the BOE will slash UK int rates by .5%......that wont help because mortgage providers wont even pass them on (or if they do its because they all raised them today in expectation of a cut at the end of the month) smoke and mirrors. The UK economy is going down the toilet - fast. However - there is one upside.........as interest rates fail to work....the authorities will look at other ways to stimulate the economy.........and they might just think about refunding bank charges. -

The problem can't be solved by cutting interest rates......nor by increasing liquidity (printing more money).......its insolvency.

"Twas us who brainwashed 167000 people down that path, they didn't want to do it, but we told them that they'd look cooler if they did"

FT is down 14% this year..........boom.

Looks like the meltdown has started.....

Thanks.....good work on the merge.......it works well.

I can think of other words to describe Angela Knight.....but I don't think you're allowed to use them on CAG.

You know what else is misleading.....the time stamp on CAG posts. Have any mods noticed this? Edit: Err - - scratch that - must be my mistake.

and misleading

UK Population: 60,776,238 Unpaid bills to date: 6.9 million. If bank charges continue I'm not sure 25% unpaids is so far off the mark: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/126930-if-oft-test-case.html Edit: Average household size iin the UK is 2.36 people Census 2001 - Commentaries - People and their homes in England and Wales This means that we could be getting closer to hitting the 25% mark than we think!

And as people stop buying stuff.........business to business payments start to dry up as well. Fewer late payers rack up more debts :: Freelance UK Cause and effect........bank charges stop the flow of money through the economy at source. The knock on economic effect is 10x what the value of the actual charges is. Ironically this will hurt banks more than simply refunding and halting charges.

£35 for missing a direct debit. Whether they are called 'charges', as a penalty, or 'fees' for a non-existant 'service'........it makes no difference (although it will to lawyers)...... The end result is the always the same. - Illegal -Against the spirit of FSA regulations. - Unfair - Immoral

6.9 Million unpaid household bills...........over the last six months....now tell me agian......when did claims stop? End Aug 2007.......and since then we have a big rise in late payments............. "The results have been echoed by a separate study from MoneyExpert.com which found that an estimated 6.9 million household bills were being either unpaid or paid late over the last six month period." Credit card dependency energy price hikes and unpaid bills 2008 looks grim for UK consumers

A nice little article in The Sunday Times today..... 5 ways the banks fleece us. Five ways the banks fleece us - Times Online aint that the truth...

"Gordon Brown said "We have to keep the economy on track". In English that says - I don't give a monkeys." We'll soon see......whatever Gordon thinks, he's soon going to have another lobbey group against bank charges....and one powerful enough to pressure the FSA to finish up. I don't think people quite realise yet the effect that OD charges have on the transfer of money to firms through the direct debit system. Its like a bouncing ball. If your monthly revenue for your utility firm, phone comp or heaven forbid to the council.....when these DD's start bouncing as a result of bank charges you'll see a shift in pace as the OFT and FSA break a sweat........there's no more powerful lobbey group than other big businesses. Additionally......if there is too much perception that direct debits are no longer the best way to pay bills then banks will have bigger problems to deal with.......given to choice between keping charges and maintaining the integrity of direct debits banks will pick the second option every time. Fractional reserve banking ensures they have no choice. The banks PR machine may have bought them six months or so.......but I think their luck is about to run out.....and not a moment too soon. Oh yeah........and dont forget this is basically an election year........bank charges are definatly a political issue......the OFT is a government body..............I dobut we'll go into an election with millions of angery claimants.

"They've been found out with their hands in the cookie jar and they still got the balls to feign innocence! It might be funny if it wasn't so sick."

Its really annoying that the OFT don't have a serach function to check up on firms and see if they hold a CCL.....they've been planning one for going on a year now. You have to call them and it takes literally ages to get through. It is shocking to ask someone to get a loan in order to pay a fee in order to claim charges back......CCL or not its still very, very bad practice and and renegociation said - if it is a secured loan its even worse. Its very unlikely that the Ministry Of Justice will be happy with this firm - they really do need to be told about this one.

"If they get someone vulnerable, they could take everything" My thoughts exactly.........the OFT and the Ministry Of Justice need to be told about this one.

"and take my chances with the honest theives!" Sigh... Thieves were honest once.......at least they didn't try and tell you that they were just taking the money away as a 'service'