With many of you successfully claiming back your "unfair" bank charges, it means that UK banks have paid out over £200 million!
A new report from Credit Suisse said it expected the top banks to take a multi-million pound hit for the first six months of 2007 (but this still only represents around 1% of their group profits!)
The report looked at the banks including Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland; they were done on the back of a well documented series of court cases brought by bank customers demanding bank-charge refunds.
We mentioned a significant victory earlier this month when a mass hearing was averted at Hull county court. In it, the banks settled 40 out of 44 cases before they reached trial.
Credit Suisse's findings have been seized upon by campaigners as more evidence that the banks' decision to continue with penalty charges is unjustifiable.
Pressure on the banks to drop the charges continues with Financial Ombudsman saying it has been getting up to 3,000 calls a day from consumers.
Mark Gander, of the Consumer Action Group, which has been fighting a joint campaign with Martin Lewis' financial website Moneysavingexpert.com against bank charges, said the figure of £200m was probably an underestimate!
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was far higher still," he said. "Thousands of people have contacted us and in almost all cases the banks have reimbursed them."
None of the banks have admitted just how much penalty charge refunds have cost them (which is not a complete surprise is it?), but they insist it will not have a significant impact on them. The real cost could finally be revealed when they announce their first-half results later this month.
CAG and Moneysavingexpert.com have set up a fund of £100,000 to help fight a test case to decide the issue. But with the banks eager to settle outstanding claims with many of you rather than risk seeing the issue go to a full trial, it is unclear whether it will succeed.
Mr. Gander said; "These latest findings highlight the hypocrisy of the banks' current stance. However, the figure of £200m is still only a drop in the ocean when you look at the major banks' total earnings."
So despite the banks having forked out so much money to so many of you, it seems it pays to keep claiming!
Why not claim using these helpful resources?
MoneySavingExpert
Penaltycharges
Consumer Action Group
Claims Financial