Banks face ‘unfair’ charges bill
British banks could be facing a multi-billion pound bill, depending on the outcome of a House of Lords hearing into “unfair” bank charges, which begins this week. The case, which opens tomorrow in the upper chamber, will determine whether or not to overturn an Appeal Court decision ruling that seven banks which charged customers for going overdrawn should pay back the money. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is behind the legal bid to reclaim the fees, thought to be worth around £2bn a year to UK banks, following a long-running investigation into the charges beginning in 2003.