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20 June 2007
The Financial Ombudsman Service can get involved with complaints regarding bank charges at an earlier state than many people realise according to recent reports.
The row over bank charges has been raging for some time, since UK financial regulators labelled these charges as unfair and unlawful.
Since this time thousands of customers have written to their banks to claim back charges going back up to six years, which for some customers has amounted to thousands of pounds.
Banks have complained that these charges were made clear when the account was opened, but because they cannot justify the amount that has been charged – often up to forty pounds per fee – they have refunded the charges.
However, often customers have had to threaten the banks with court action in a small claims court, or have had to file a small claim, in order to get the banks to pay up.
Although, up until recently no bank managed to justify the charges in court and therefore had to pay up, Lloyds TSB enjoyed a recent victory where the judge actually ruled in the bank’s favour. This has resulted in many people thinking twice before filing a claim against their bank – along with fear of retaliation from the bank such as threat of account closure.
However, industry professionals are urging consumers to remember that in bank charge cases the Financial Ombudsman Service can get involved in the event that the bank does not refund these charges, so those that do not feel comfortable about going to court can turn to this regulatory body for assistance instead.
This is also a free service, and therefore it will not cost anything to seek help from the Financial Ombudsman Service [See: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/].
Experts advise that when a consumer filed a claim in the courts the judge’s decision is final, and this means that the FOS can no longer get involved.
However, if the consumer first goes through the FOS, he or she can still take court action later on if unhappy with the decision of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Customer that do not get a satisfactory response from their bank initially can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service by phone, email, or in writing to find out more about the procedures for filing their complaint.
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