bank charges news

The Office of Fair Trading has announced that it will not pursue any further action against the banking industry over the issue of bank charges.

The OFT, which recently lost a case in the Supreme Court into the legality of bank charges for customer who accrue unauthorised debts, claimed that any proposed legal action under Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations would be unlikely to succeed.

The effects of the credit crunch were being felt once again throughout August, with a 64% drop in the number of approved applicants compared to the same time last year.

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) said that just 21,086 mortgages had been approved for house purchases in August, down from 58,564 in the same month last year.

The figure is the lowest since records began in September 1997.

The Association, which represents two thirds of mortgage lenders in the UK, said that falling property prices and the state of the economy would continue to have an impact.