RBS Plans To Refund Bank Charges
According to reports, RBS may be planning to proactively refund all of its customers bank charges if the bank loses their High Court battle with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
RBS is currently appealing the case in unison with seven other major High Street banks. RBS are appealing a ruling that allows the OFT to asses whether the bank charges are fair to customers.
An internal document that has been leaked from the RBS suggests that should the bank lose the overall case they have outlined plans which calculate how much each of its customers is owed and proactively return their cash to them.
The document states that RBS is ‘preparing systems and processes to pro-actively refund charges to the group’s customer base.
‘All customer accounts that are due a refund will be calculated as accurately as possible… Any monies will be accurately accounted for and reconciled.’
It is highly likely that the other banks involved in the High Court case will have drawn up similar refund plans. The other banks involved include: Abbey, Barclays, Clydesdale, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Nationwide Building Society.
The judge presiding over the banks’ High Court appeal is expected to pronounce his verdict before the end of the year. Following this, the OFT will make a case for why it believes banks’ overdraft charges are unfair. However the final High Court ruling on the inherent fairness of the charges is not expected until the end of 2009/ early 2010.
