22 July 2008
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued a new waiver allowing banks to ignore complaints from customers about unauthorised overdraft charges for another six months. It replaces an existing one which was put in place last July following the Office of Fair Trading's announcement that it would seek a High Court ruling on the fairness of penalty charges on current accounts. Customers seeking refunds for charges paid will now have to wait until the end of January 2009 before their complaints are handled. However, there will be no time limit set for customers to make complaints and banks will be required to keep records of any grievances they receive over the next six months. Dan Waters, director of retail policy at the FSA said: "The FSA continues to work closely with the OFT and banks in reaching a resolution on the fairness of unauthorised overdraft charges." He said the regulator remains committed to obtaining certainty over the issue of bank charges as well as a "fair and consistent" resolution of consumer complaints. A report from the OFT published last week revealed that current account charges net banks around £8.3 billion in revenues.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
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