Tuesday 16th October 2007
HBOS, the financial services group which owns Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, is to face court action after failing to repay the bank charges incurred by 11 of its customers, it has emerged.
The BBC reports that representatives of the banking group are to appear in Leeds high court on Friday.
Charges have been brought against the organisation by claims management firm Robertson Holbrook, acting on behalf of the 11 customers.
And spokesperson for the claims handler Tim Russell tells the BBC that HBOS has consistently attempted to delay the resolution of the issue.
"Up until the statutory demand to pay up or be wound up, three weeks ago, they ignored all our correspondence," he asserts.
But HBOS dismisses the claims as "ridiculous" and has obtained an injunction to prevent the refunds from being issued.
A spokesperson for the financial institution informs the BBC that a total of £21,000 has been refunded to the 11 claimants so far.
In light of the Office of Fair Trading test case - and the stay on refunding bank charges put in place by the Financial Services Authority - he reveals that HBOS intends to apply the rule despite having already lost the cases.
"We do have the right to have them stayed after the original hearing in the county court, because they were all judgments in default," he explains.
HBOS previously told the BBC that it had "not ignored the claims" when originally presented with a letter from Robertson Holbrook announcing the intention to seek a winding-up order.
The BBC revealed in September that the claims management firm has now stood against HBOS on behalf of about 3,500 individuals in cases relating to bank charges.
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