First bank retreat
April 25, 2007Alliance & Leicester have responded to a customer’s complaint about bank charges of £2,035 by offering to reduce the charge for bounced cheques from £25 to just £4.50, which - according to a report by the BBC - would more accurately reflect the actual costs incurred.
Even though they repeatedly stress that “each case is considered on its own merits” and that “there is no blanket policy to offer to cut charges”, the response seems to break with the current policy of banks claiming their imposed charges are indeed fair and not unlawful.
While you could see this as a step towards banks admitting their mistakes, I’m inclined to see it as a cunning way of saving money. Why? Because at the moment the retail banks are still buying their way out of court by fully refunding their claimant’s demands. So A&L had to make a decision between losing £2,035 or £1,558 - the refund after taking into account all charges at £4.50 each. You don’t need an A in Maths to work out what to do…
Read the BBC’s full coverage here.
