Update on OFT test case – January 16 2008
On 27 July, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), Abbey and six other UK banks and a building society started a court case to decide on the legality of unauthorised overdraft charges. The first part of the court case is due to be heard by the Court on 16 January 2008. The aim of the hearing is to decide certain preliminary issues of legal principle and is expected to take three weeks, with judgement to be handed down sometime afterwards.
This is the first part of the test case. At this time it is too soon to give any exact timescales for its conclusion but we expect it to continue for more than a year. Abbey has agreed with the OFT and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to conduct the case in an efficient, prompt and orderly way.
Until the final outcome of the test case, the situation regarding how Abbey handles customers’ claims and complaints about unauthorised overdraft fees will remain unchanged unless circumstances change. In keeping with the agreement with the OFT and FSA, Abbey will make sure that customers are updated when there are any significant developments.