In February, the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by the High Court that the Office of Fair Trading could decide whether or not the penalty fees levied by current account providers when a customer goes overdrawn without permission, or exceeds their authorised overdraft limit, are fair and legal. However, the House of Lords has today given the eight institutions involved in the case - Abbey, Barclays, HSBC, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, RBS, Clydesdale and Nationwide Building Society - the permission to appeal.
This will further delay a resolution to the case and mean that the hundreds of thousands of people, who have already been waiting since July 2007 to see if they can have charges refunded, will have to wait even longer.
Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said: "This saga looks set to rumble on and while the House of Lords might be feeling sympathetic to banks, it is the man in the street who suffers again.
"This whole sorry story is fast becoming a farce with even more money being ploughed into the debacle. For the sake of consumers' pockets as well as their sanity, we call for a resolution to this once and for all."
For more information on the background to this, read our article 'Are bank charge refunds finally on their way?'
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