Consumer groups said yesterday that banks were falsely claiming that they had been given official sanction to shelve complaints from customers challenging credit card charges.
Last year banks and building societies were ordered to refund millions of pounds charged for late payment of credit card balances, but they began to reject claims after the Financial Services Authority gave them a waiver in respect of current account overdraft fees, according to watchdogs.
The waiver, granted pending the outcome of a dispute in the High Court between the British Bankers’ Association and the Office of Fair Trading, applies solely to providers of current accounts.
It has been claimed that credit card providers that do not hold any deposit accounts, such as MBNA, took advantage of the waiver