Why I took my bank to court

Paul Tilley says his bank was taking £180 out of his account each month

Paul Tilley, a law student from Southampton, was working as a security guard to get extra money while studying and earned "just enough to get by".

But when his financial situation changed unexpectedly, he found he couldn't meet his regular payments.

"I'd had a bad car accident and my financial state deteriorated because I was off work."

"But my bank, rather than being reasonable and negotiating with me, said 'no, we are not prepared to enter into any agreement with you'."

He says he was charged £25-£30 each time he went over his overdraft limit or made late payments.

"Looking at my statements from the time, they were taking up to £180 a month off me in charges, it then left me short for paying my bills."

"As a result my payments bounced, I then went over my overdraft again."

"It was a snowballing situation. At one point I was over £1000 overdrawn because of charges. "

Court proceedings

Paul says he filed court proceedings after the bank claimed that their charges were fair and reasonable and declined to pay him back.

"My argument was that the charges were not a genuine estimate of the banks costs."

"The judge basically said they must come to court and must produce proof of their costs; to prove that £30 is a genuine estimate of their losses."

But the bank ignored the request, Paul says, so the judge found in his favour.

Mr Tilley won back £4000 including interest from his bank in a court in Southampton.

He has another claim outstanding with another bank. The judge in that case put it on hold pending the outcome of the test case.

Paul says he hopes the test case will force banks to change their behaviour:

"I am hoping that banks act fairly and reasonably with consumers," he said.