It’s a well-known marketing ploy in banking – offer free checking and then hit customers with outrageous fees when they bounce a check – £40 or so in the UK for what American bankers called non-sufficient funds (NSF). Now the High Court has ruled the fees come under laws on fairness of contracts, governed by the  Office of Fair Trading which has already suggested the fees are unfair. Banks had contended they could set the fees arbitrarily. At stake? Up to £2 billion. Banks may appeal, or they may pay up and replace free checking with a host of fees for services. 

Just one more reason not to trust bankers, in case anyone was looking for another.

Filed under: Technology