Battle Against UK Bank Charges - not over yet -

[7redorbs]

Millions of consumers were dealt a crushing blow last week when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the banks in the legal battle between the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and eight high street banking institutions over the issue of unfair charges.

The UK's banks will have breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Court ruled that unarranged overdraft charges are not governed by fairness, under Regulation 6 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation of 1999 (UTCCR). With no legal leg to stand on, the OFT will struggle to continue in its separate investigation into the issue. Consumers are still free to pursue banks through the courts themselves, but with the OFT thwarted, any chance of success is, in effect, destroyed and hopes for remuneration of as much as £20bn in overdraft fees have been dashed.

"Not only does this give banks licence to charge what they like for unauthorised overdrafts, but it could have ramifications for other areas of personal finance," says Peter Vicary-Smith, the chief executive of consumer group Which?.

Battle against bank charges not over yet - Spend & Save , Money - The Independent

[LightFantastic]

Well that wasn't a surprise! Of course there were no back room discussions in this case

Everyone except the Supreme Court thought the charges were covered by the UTCCR.

[7redorbs]

Well that wasn't a surprise! Of course there were no back room discussions in this case

Everyone except the Supreme Court thought the charges were covered by the UTCCR.

Yeah pretty amazing huh. My bank was taking my income support off me , so I couldn't eat/drink or find work..

pretty despicable when you mention repeatedly over 20 times to over 5 different people that you are an IT consultant, with telecoms and 3rd line background?!! You'd think they'd give you an informal overdraft and stop reassuringly charging you repeatedly in an endless cycle. People should instruct the bank to freeze your account.

Kinda madness, they are never going to get the money out of people if they don't help them get back on their feet!!!

MADNESS


A

[Mr X]

I welcome the decision. The charges in question only affect people who go overdrawn or who write dud cheques. If the banks had lost they would quite likely have slapped charges on EVERYTHING else to recoup the lost revenue. I would prefer the current system where the irresponsible few are charged rather than everyone.

If people don't want to be charged the answer is simple, budget better and don't go overdrawn.

[7redorbs]

I welcome the decision. The charges in question only affect people who go overdrawn or who write dud cheques. If the banks had lost they would quite likely have slapped charges on EVERYTHING else to recoup the lost revenue. I would prefer the current system where the irresponsible few are charged rather than everyone.

If people don't want to be charged the answer is simple, budget better and don't go overdrawn.

Well in my case, through no fault of my own, earlier last year after losing a telecoms business, Job Centre Plus mistakenly stopped my social. Money was tight and I had no choice but to draw money, even though initially many of the overages were due to a direct debit commitment. Nothing I could do about it.

The banks happily held me over a barrel, whilst JSA apologized, and while I was trying to find money just to live, go out, find work, contribute to mortgage (dad's business went down hill so had no help from them either) - I can't help but feel a tiny bit better, JSA stopped my payments for missing an appointment.

Regardless of the fact that I had a blood clot in my leg and had been previously rushed to hospital.

I kinda think there are exceptions to people stealing from a bank, and I'm one of them ;) I think there is also a difference between people being stupid, and people taking advantage of stupid people - but that's just me ;)

peace,


A

[Mr X]

My view is simpler: Why should I be charged for other people going overdrawn?

I had to live on £89 a week Incapacity for two years recently. No other income at all. I managed to not go overdrawn once.

[7redorbs]

My view is simpler: Why should I be charged for other people going overdrawn?

I had to live on £89 a week Incapacity for two years recently. No other income at all. I managed to not go overdrawn once.

I know how you feel, try living on £0 Sucks to be me,

The point i made was, I wasn't at fault.

My payments were accidentally stopped. I was called by the manager to apologize months after it had been going on.
I did everything I could within my power to report it and go through the process of them working out what had gone wrong with their system.

In the meantime though I had a choice, to go overdrawn with my bank or to borrow money elsewhere.

In retrospect maybe I could have managed it better, but in any case I've never been overdrawn with the bank once, ever. I had my own telecoms business that was doing well, and worth approaching 6 figures. I got screwed bad, and the bank couldn't care less.

Not knocking your point, but I was almost hospitalized as a result of the 'accident' - I never once was rude or difficult with the bank or the job centre. I was quite understanding and sympathetic to their position. I just wonder what happened to the human element of actually working out 'hold on a minute this is a sick man.. he's a good customer never been in debt, maybe we could help him get back on his feet so he'll actually be able to pay the payments back'

I still owe them money. I got back on my own feet on my own!

The recession just really hit my whole family hard!

A

[outlander]

I don't know what's worse... bank fees or getting charged 20c for a phone txt..