17 April 2007
A businessman has been given £35, 987.94 by NatWest in an attempt to avoid going to court after the customer claimed the £26,010 worth of charges he racked up on his current account between January 2001 and February 2003 were unfair.
The charges had been amounted through bounced cheques and overdraft charges after the anonymous man's business started to falter.
Thought to be the largest sum to be given to a customer because of current account charges, NatWest claimed it had chosen to settle the matter outside of court as it didn't want to have to justify the charges.
A case management conference had been scheduled to take place in May, at which the man planned to ask the judge to order NatWest to disclose the real cost of bouncing cheques and Direct Debits.
Before he was given the chance however, NatWest sent the near £36,000 cheque.
The businessman is a member of the online Consumer Action Group, which has been campaigning on the issue. Marc Gander, its co-founder, told The Guardian: "It's the biggest payout we have had so far - that I've heard of anyway. It is an enormous amount."
NatWest have refused to comment on the case.
The story will hearten newly qualified barrister Tom Brennan, who has refused an out of court settlement with NatWest for his case of unfair charging, insisting that he will take it to court after he discovered that the charges of up to £38 he accrued for going into his overdraft are unlawful because it costs the banks just £2.50 each time.
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