Claimants must wait in bank charges case

The Financial Services Authority yesterday extended the waiver that allows banks to freeze consumers' compensation claims for another six months. This means that thousands of savers, who are chasing banks over unfair overdraft charges, will have to wait at least a further six months to learn if they will receive compensation.

The waiver was introduced in July 2007 when the Office of Fair Trading started a court action to prove that high charges for unauthorised borrowing are unfair.