Fees within terms and conditions

[jj19]

Just a question but I am sure it will be of use.
I know the oft ruled on credit card charges some time ago, was it 2006 ?

Anyway I know prior to that these charges could be pretty much anything the CC company wanted and I know so e were 25 or 30 and I guess some were much lower. However is there a date after the charges HAD to be £12 or did that happen over a period of time .

I have read an OFT press release which seems to indicate 31st May 2006

If that is so then a cca request for an agreement after that date would be wrong if it showed greater charges ?

[oscar]

Re: Fees within terms and conditions

If that is so then a cca request for an agreement after that date would be wrong if it showed greater charges ?

No. The original T&Cs would have to show the higher charges for it to be correct. The current / newer T&Cs would have to show the lower ones for those to be correct.

I assume you mean form your post (as its not clear to me) that you are speaking about an agreement that was entered into BEFORE the ruling on charges.?

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Fees within terms and conditions

The test case on charges was lost/abandoned by the OFT. In November 2009, after the OFT beat the banks in the High Court and Court of Appeal, a shock technical ruling from the Supreme Court overturned this and the OFT walked.

(http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updat...9#.Uv9SxHggHCQ <-- link)

it was 2009.

That said, it was generally agreed by the main lenders that they'd cap charges to £12. It was never statute or ordered hence some lenders did it, some didn't & some didn't at the time but have now (dropped to £12 charge). Basically there's no date from as it was never forced. It was an option taken by a lot of lenders.

To comply with s.78 the lender must supply terms as at inception plus any variations. So if they now charge £12 but your terms show £25 that's fine (As per Carey / Recon) - If they send terms purporting to be originals with a £12 charge then it's likely to be UE as these might be a variation set of terms and not the originals.

[jj19]

Re: Fees within terms and conditions

Thanks. I think I get it.
Sorry for credit cards even though the press release from the oft was 5th April 2006 an agreement signed in say July 2006 could still have charges of £25 on the initial agreement .

However if I sent a cca request to that lender I should also get a set of varied terms and conditions with £12 charges on.

Just to confirm , I am talking about credit card fees and not bank charges as that link seems to be about bank charges.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Fees within terms and conditions

The credit card charges was 31st May 2006. Sorry mate, thought it was bank charges (doh!!).

See this -> http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updat...6#.Uv9b9nggHCQ

So yes you're correct in that anything from <- 2006 should show £25+ as default charges whilst anything from -> 2006 should reflect the oft decision and show £12 default charges.

If you do a s.78 you'd expect to receive the original terms plus any variations, obviously there will be a new set of terms (variable) from late 2006 onwards as a result of the oft decision. That said Carey affects things and thus if they send you the original terms they only need to send a current set to comply. They do not need to supply all variable terms throughout the account life cycle.