After hearing that banks charged consumers around £5bn in Penalty fees in 2005, James Little, now owner of Unfair-Bank-Charges.org.uk decided to try and reclaim the fees that he felt he was owed from his own bank.
“It was mid-2005 that I read an article about a loophole allowing customers to get their charges refunded in full from the banks. I decided to give it a try and after lots of research I challenge three different banks for accounts that I had held over the past 6 years and managed to get a full refund from each and every one†explains James.
Less than a year later James launched the website, Unfair-Bank-Charges.org.uk which contains a step by step guide and downloadable templates to help UK customers claim back the charges and is urging bloggers and other site owners to join the campaigning against the banks.
“Whilst it is likely that we will see millions claimed back this year it’s still not enough – most of the UK public don’t know that their bank is breaking the law by charging these excessive fees. The new campaign lets other websites and blogs place just one line of code on their site to link though to our free resources†he continued.
Whilst there are no official figures available it is estimated that around £200m has been claimed back in charges over the past 2 years. An official judgement on these fees is expected in April or May 2007.
