Date set for House of Lords bank charges appeal
The House of Lords has set a date to hear the banks' appeal against the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) overdraft charges for June 22nd.
The date is slightly earlier than campaigners were expecting, as the banks still had time to make their petition.
However, customers hoping to reclaim overdraft charges from their banks if the OFT wins will still have some time to wait, Julian Siddle from consumer champion site Legal Beagleshas warned.
"There's always the possibility they could launch another appeal to the European courts," Mr Siddle said, as the European Courts of Justice is the last place they could take their appeal.
However, even if the OFT wins at the House of Lords and the banks accept the decision, there is still further legal wrangling to go through before customers will see any cash.
"The main question we get is 'when will we get paid?'" Mr Siddle said.
"But it is a lot more complex than that. If the House of Lords upholds the judgement and the banks do not take it any further, it will have to go back to the courts to decide what is a fair charge.
"Only a court can decide that, the OFT can't," Mr Siddle said.
"I think we are still looking at 2010."
A group of banks is fighting the OFT's claim that it has the right to decide if bank charges are unfair. If the OFT wins, it is widely expected to judge the charges unfair and demand banks pay back billions of pounds to customers.
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