Millions of fresh bank charges claims expected

A new survey from consumer advice group, Which? suggests that the UK’s banks could yet be flooded with another 8 million bank charges claims.

The figures show that, of around 12 million people that have been hit with bank charges since July 2001, over three in five (63%) haven’t asked for their money back.

In January 2008 the UK’s leading high street banks and OFT went to the High Court to decide whether the OFT was able to assess whether bank charges are fair or not. The OFT won – both in the High Court and later in the Court of Appeal.

Now, the Supreme Court’s ruling on this test case is due on 25th November, and Which? predicts that the banks could face a deluge of new complaints should the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) win. This is in addition to the estimated million plus claims that are currently on hold.

According to the Which? report, 42% of claims waiting to be resolved are for amounts of £500 or more, with 41% of those waiting for a claim resolution saying that they would use any refunded money to pay off bills or debts, and 20% saying they would spend it on shopping.

Which? personal finance campaigner, Phil Jones, said:

“If the Supreme Court rules against them, the banks could find themselves staring down the barrel at millions of fresh claims. This is in addition to the huge backlog that’s already built up since the waiver was put in place.”

“With so much money at stake, the banks may well try to drag the process out even longer, so we’d warn people not to make any plans for their refunded cash just yet.”