Bank Charges Test case could be dropped
The Office of Fair Trading confirmed it could drop the High Court test case over “unfair” overdraft bank charges if a suitable compromise is put forward by banks.
The consumer watchdog said it would consider any potential proposals, which could lead to next year’s case being scrapped if the plans were in the best interest of customers.
The OFT has also revealed that banks are raking in between £2 billion and £3.5 billion a year in fees charged when customers go over their authorised overdraft limits.
But it is unclear how much of this is profit or the exact amount of the annual charges haul, with the OFT only in the early stages of analysing data supplied by banks under its investigation of the charges.
It is also yet to finalise its own calculations of how much it believes it costs banks to administer accounts that are in the red by more than the agreed levels.
An OFT spokesman stressed that it had not yet had any discussions with banks over a possible out of court settlement ahead of the case next year, which is due to decide whether the OFT has the power to rule overdraft charges as being unfair.
The spokesman added it was unlikely that banks would table a proposal that would see charges come down to levels considered to be in the best interests of consumers.
However, there are signs that banks are voluntarily making moves to lower overdraft charges and forewarn customers getting close to their agreed limits.
Earlier this week Lloyds TSB became the first bank to cut its unauthorised overdraft charges and reduce its penalty interest rates.
HSBC last week announced it would alert customers withdrawing money from one of their cash machines if the amount would see them exceed their overdraft limit.