50 banks and building societies are subject to OFT probe


Leading banks and building societies could be forced to follow Barclays, Northern Rock and the Co-operative Bank in forking out huge sums to refund interest payments to its loan customers because of problems with their paperwork. The Office of Fair Trading last week wrote to 50 banks and building societies informing them that they may have failed to comply with the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) when issuing arrears notices or loan statements. With billions of pounds in compensation having already been paid out following the PPI mis-selling scandal, lenders face another hefty bill if they're found to have breached the guidelines. Lenders are obliged to provide a minimum level of information on statements and arrears notices they send out, but some were found to have been communicating with their customers with vital details missing - such as statements that fail to state the original amount borrowed. In such cases, customers are entitled to a refund of any interest that they paid during the periods when the mistakes took place. .....Read more here