After many months of waiting it has finally been announced that the long running case between the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and eight major banks and building societies regarding the excesses fees levied on account holders who go overdrawn or miss a payment, may come to a conclusion on Thursday when the Judge hearing the test case hands down his final judgement.

If the ruling goes for the OFT, hundreds of thousands of UK citizens could claim back their overpaid bank charges from as far back as 6 years leading to banks such as HSBC having to each return over £300 million in bank charges.

With the Government already looking to bolster the flagging mortgage market with a cash injection of around £50 Billion to help re-instate first time buyer mortgages and prevent the housing market form collapsing, it has to be said that the potential for an OFT win looks doubtful.

Already several websites such as MoneySavingExpert contain freely downloadable sample letters and templates to allow customers to confront their banks. For the less front line, several claim handling companies have services in place to handle the bank charge claim process at a fee.

We look forward to the outcome on Thursday and hope that a final decision can be reached without the usual drawn out legal process of appeal after appeal.