Expert sceptical on Brown's bank charges comments

28/09/2009

Gordon Brown's intervention in the ongoing bank charges case has been criticised by financial website Fool.co.uk.

The site's director of personal finance, David Kuo, said that the prime minister "could have done something much earlier" on the issue.

High street banks are currently locked in a test case with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which is to go before the UK's supreme court.

The judges will decide whether or not the OFT can rule on the fairness or otherwise of financial firms' penalty fees.

If the supreme court rules against the banks, hundreds of thousands of people could reclaim charges previously levied on them for offences such as breaching overdraft limits.

In a letter to consumer campaigners at Moneysavingexpert.com, Mr Brown said that "we have called on the banks and the regulators to explore a quicker way to resolve this without further delay".

Responding, Mr Kuo suggested that the banks were very likely to lose the supreme court case.

"You can almost say that the banks are losing 4-0 at the moment – it's quite easy to call the result of a game when it's almost the end of the game and [one side] is losing 4-0," he said.

"In that sense, Gordon Brown could have done something much earlier on, but he has left it until almost the final whistle to say he thinks he knows which side is going to win the game."

Kevin Still, EuroDebt director, commented: "The enormous number of complaints reported by the FSA in the second half of 2008 regarding over charging is a direct reflection of consumer concern. Many people have been reluctant to switch banks, but it is probably time to take the plunge and look at alternatives, especially if you are struggling every month and incur charges.

"EuroDebt took the decision to offer bank switching services for people in financial difficulty because there is a need to offer simple, no surprises banking services to all UK residents. Our prepaid current accounts is available to people on a Debt Management Plan, an IVA or even bankrupts."

Tags; Debt Management and Banking, Credit Card Lifestyle, Recent Graduate Debt,

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