Another ongoing saga continually being mentioned in the annals of the Money Hospital is the controversy surrounding bank penalty charges!
Today a potential spanner has been thrown in the works with regard to people claiming back their bank penalty charges.
Lloyds TSB today became the first bank to win a court case after being sued by a customer for imposing allegedly unfair overdraft penalty charges.
District Judge Cooke, at Birmingham County Court, dismissed a claim for £2,545 from Kevin Berwick, who argued that Lloyds TSB's charges for having an unauthorised overdraft were illegal contractual penalties.
He said that the Lloyds TSB's charges were in fact legitimate fees for servicing an account that was overdrawn, and as such were legal.
Lloyds TSB said it was pleased with the ruling. (no surprise there then!)
"It appears to acknowledge our position in respect of current account service charges," said a spokeswoman. "The court has agreed with us that these are charges for a service and not default or penalty fees as has been argued by others".
As this judgment has come from a district judge, it is not binding on any other court, in the way that a High Court judgment might be, which gives some comfort to those of us that are pursuing claims against our banks for penalty charges.
However, as the first judgment of any kind in this sort of case, it could be a blow to the hundreds of thousands of people who are still trying to claim.
So far, many claimants have been successful because their banks have settled their cases before the issue came before a judge, precisely in order to avoid an adverse legal decision.
Now, the first decision in which a judge has given an opinion on the law has gone in a bank's favour.
Marc Gander, of the Consumer Action Group said he was very disappointed. "We feel the judge has not considered the fact that disguising penalties as a fee for a service is a very common device for circumventing established law. The judge appears not to have looked behind the words on the contractual document," he said.
Mr. Berwick was annoyed by the outcome of his claim and said "I was expecting to win as I made a good job of arguing my case".
He is now considering an appeal after the judge gave him leave to do so.
So where does that leave many of us who are involved in all of this?
It's difficult to say, but it's worth keeping any eye out for Tom Brennan's case hearing on the 21st May in the Mayor's and City of London County Court. It is an application to determine whether the case should go to trial.
So whether we can successfully claim bank penalty charges and damages incurred could depend greatly on what happens in Tom's case!
So watch this space!