Decision awaited on historic fees

The latest hearing has been heard in the High Court

A High Court judge is to take time considering his decision in the latest stage of the case into the fairness of bank overdraft charges.

Judge Mr Justice Andrew Smith decided at the end of a three-day hearing that no immediate ruling would be made regarding banks' historic fees.

The session heard arguments on whether charges going back for years can be challenged by bank customers.

It is the latest stage in the dispute over the fairness of overdraft fees.

Tens of thousands of claims for the refund of bank charges have been frozen in the county courts since the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and eight banks agreed on a test case to clarify the situation.

The OFT has been seeking legal confirmation that it can rule if bank overdraft charges of up to £35 are fair or not.

But the banks, which provide about 90% of the UK's current accounts, are aiming to protect the estimated £3.5bn a year of income they generate from charging customers who go overdrawn without permission.

They are already appealing against the judge's initial ruling - that the OFT can assess whether fees are unfair.

That only related to current agreements between the banks and their customers.

After the latest hearing, the judge said he would consider the arguments on whether fees levied historically could be assessed for fairness but did not set a date on when he would make a decision.

The entire legal process is expected to last several more months.