Bank charges are likely to be declared unlawful when the High Court adjudicates on the current test case being pushed through by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), it has been claimed.

The comment was made by Hall Advisory Services, a company which reclaims bank charges on behalf of consumers.

Company director Tim Wickham said he is "confident that the courts will rule in favour of the claims against the banks".

"This has been indicated by the amount that they've been paying to avoid a ruling in the past," he explained.

Banks impose a range of charges on customers in situations where they are breach of the operating terms of their current account.

Common examples include where a customer goes overdrawn without permission, or attempts to pay out direct debits when there is not enough money in the account.

Charges can be as much as £35 and the OFT claims that these are unfair as they are disproportionate to the cost incurred by the bank as a result of the customer's transgression.

© Adfero Ltd