Weekly round-up

20/11/2009

A date was set this week for a decision on the latest stage of the battle over banks overdraft charges.

Later this month the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to uphold the right of the OFT to regulate banks charges.

However it still could be some time before people find out whether they will be refunded or not.

It comes in the same week that Which? The consumer champion launched a campaign called 'Britain needs better banks' after their latest research revealed that two in three people said they were angry with the banks for causing the financial crisis.

Unite union are backing the campaign and said that banks which are partly owned by the tax payer should be providing them with excellent service.

Proposals to change the face of bankruptcy were outlined this week, The Insolvency Service published a document proposing significant changes in the way bankruptcies are handled including removing the court process debtors have to go through by replacing it with an administrative one.

The cost of the new process is expected to be significantly less than current court fees, which are £510.

A couple from Cheshire have lost an appeal to write off £40,000 worth of debt, after a judge reversed a decision made in April this year.

Michael and Suzanne Walker fell into arrears after they remortgaged their home and faced repossession until a judge ruled in April, that it was unenforceable.

The ruling was made on the fact that the amount of credit they secured was £17,500, however a "broker administration fee" of £875 was added to the total and this led to the challenge because if the amount of credit is incorrectly stated, the agreement is unenforceable.

After the recent ruling, the Walkers now face losing their home in Sandringham Close, Winsford, and legal costs from the loan company of £100,000.

This landmark case comes in the same week that the Ministry of Justice [MoJ] have urges people to be extremely careful when telling people any personal details about themselves over the phone.

It's after they were made aware of a scam, involving people being phoned by people claiming to be from the government, Office of Fair Trading [OFT], a high street bank or a legitimate claims management companies'>claims management company, suggesting that the consumer could receive payments, such as refunds of bank charges or other debts.

There's fears that people already in financial difficulty could be pushed further into debt by scammers such as these, which is very worrying after it's been revealed that around 24 per cent of people admitted they had credit card, overdraft or loan debts that they’re hiding from friends and family.

That's according to insurer Axa say that within this group the average person owed around £4000 through secret borrowing and 1 in 3 said they his their debt because they were embarrassed or worried what people close to them would think.

Half of all employers intend to freeze pay despite the worst of the downturn seemingly having passed.

That's according to research by the CBI and Harvey Nash. Who claim that just 4 per cent of firms said they intend to make inflation-beating rises.

And it was announced that Official figures reveal yesterday that a key measure of UK inflation has risen for the first time since February this year.

The Consumer price index climbed to 1.5 per cent in October from 1.1 per cent in September.

Meanwhile the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure, which includes mortgage interest payments and housing costs, rose to -0.8 per cent from -1.4 per cent.

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