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What do you think of the bank charges ruling?
Banks have won a two-year court battle, dealing a major blow to hundreds of thousands of customers seeking to claim back billions of pounds of what they say are unfair overdraft charges.
The new Supreme Court found that the Office of Fair Trading cannot use customer protection rules to investigate whether the fees were levied unfairly.
The landmark ruling in favour of seven banks and one building society overturns two previous rulings that said the OFT had the power to investigate the unauthorised overdraft fees because the charges fell under the scope of consumer contract law.
The Supreme Court, however, said the charges form part of the fees for current account services and could not be assessed for fairness under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.
Consumers now face the choice of giving up their claims or taking on the might of the banks through individual claims, which could prove costly. To read more on how the decision affects you, read this guide from moneysavingexpert.com
What do you think of the ruling? Have the banks behaved unfairly and therefore have been made to pay the money back, or is it right that consumers should pay the price for breaking the terms and conditions of their current account?
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The Wall
My belated thoughts regarding this issue. In this world today, you can not proceed without a bank, this is how we have now evolved financially.
Banks do need to make money, but this needs to be in a Fair and Proper manner. If you go overdrawn and dare I say most people do at some point, then a charge needs to be levied accordingly.
This debate, as I understood it, was about the amount charged. I do think that Banks have an almost FREE HAND on how they run. The amounts they charge are discretionary to them and in their favour. A serious control needs to be taken with the Banking world as they have almost brought the Globe to its knees because they have been able to do as they please. A Bonus from a Bank can make you a Millionaire!
Now, some months later, interests are at an all time low, 0.5%, yet most High Street banks are charging in excess of 4% on mortgages and more than 9% on personal loans. Who is saving money now? Who is making money now? what can we, the people of the country, land and world do about it? Nothing. Because we need Banks to survive.
So was the decission correct? For me, No it was not. Bank Charges should be capped and subject to amounts involved. Banks should not feel they have the ability to do as they please.
My anger and disappointment comes from recent news of RBS making £3.5billion LOSS and yet feel it correct to pay out £1.5 billion in Bonuses.
If you were £10k overdrawn, could you inform your bank that you are going to withdraw a further £1,500.00 without question?
And add your future Taxes to this question too.