UK banks are settling cases out of court

LONDON – Research released in July by Credit Suisse has revealed that UK banks have so far this year repaid customers as much as £200 million in "unfair" bank charges.

Credit Suisse evaluated bank results from the first half of 2007, and found that customers charged by their banks for activities such as exceeding overdrafts, bouncing cheques and having insufficient funds to cover direct debits have been successfully fighting back.

It is predicted that the figures will rise further in the latter half of the year, as pressure builds on other financial service providers to refund a range of charges that have been deemed disproportionate, such as mortgage exit fees, and charges for unpaid credit card bills.

Because banks are settling out of court, it is proving difficult to accurately estimate the number of people who have been reimbursed. But based on an average claim of £1,000 per person, Credit Suisse estimates that at least 200,000 customers have successfully challenged their banks.