London United Kingdom (February 19, 2009) .The test case between the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the banks appears to be a never ending saga. The FSA recently stated that the waiver holding off refunds of bank charges would be in place for a further 6 months. Annoying as it may seem, those who are yet to put in a claim must not sit around any longer.
The Court of Appeal heard the banks, appeal in November and as of today there is still no judgment. However, there shouldn,t be any surprise as to why there is a continued delay. The position of UK banks is flaky with banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland precariously skating on very thin ice with huge losses. It is natural that the Courts will hold off any bad news for the banks to avoid creating a mass flood of bank charges complaints. It may be that the Courts have a Judgment ready and waiting to be issued but are prepared to give the banks, a stay of execution.
Regardless of the delay, customers wishing to claim back charges must not forget that the banks did lose at the High Court in 2008 when it was held that charges and fees can be scrutinised under the test of fairness. That decision is likely to be rubber stamped again.
Those eager to know what the likely outcome will be have clues already in place. Halifax and Barclays have dropped default charges to well under 8.00. Natwest has indicated that it has already set up procedures to deal with refunds. These are telling signs.
Those who have yet to put in claims must not delay any further. The queue is enormous and it is vital even during the current stay to stake your claim. It would be risky to wait for the official Judgment before putting in a claim as it is hard to predict if there will be any time barring or implementation of a shadowy regulation.
Even with the current stay, banks are obliged to consider customers with financial hardship. Although this might not mean an automatic pay out of charges, it does mean that the bank could make a part offer to help a customer. It is definitely worth putting such a case forward if there is genuine financial hardship such as job loss, debts, etc
JSK Claims specialises in getting back bank and credit card charges. It also specialises in Payment Protection refunds as well as Mortgage arrear charges refunds. For more information about JSK Claims - Bank Charges and unfair bank charges, please visit www.jskclaims.com.
For further details, please contact:
Mark Dempsey, Ceo,JSK Claims ADDRESS: JSK Claims Tempo House 15 Falcon Road London, SW11 2PJ Telephone: 0845 463 3806 Website : http://www.jskclaims.com
