Case report: the fairness of bank charges

A potentially significant county court decision may revive the ‘fairness of bank charges’ issue which banks had thought had been laid to rest.

In 2009 the Supreme Court held in Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National and ors [2009] UKSC 6 that the fairness of bank charges levied on personal current account customers in respect of unauthorised overdrafts (including unpaid item charges and other related charges) could not be challenged by the Office of Fair Trading as excessive in relation to the services supplied to the customers.