Letter: A proper charge for bank letters

Sir: With talk of letters charged by banks to customers at pounds 15 each, it may be of interest to your readers to know that in this area guidance notes issued by our local courts indicate pounds 10.50p as the proper charge for a letter in 1993.

This allowance for solicitors' letters must, it seems logical to suggest, be weighted by the duty of care owed by a solicitor to his client. Unless a bank's customer has agreed beforehand to pay other than a reasonable charge for letters, it would be open to the courts to decide how much the bank should be allowed. The solicitors' rates, as above, would then be a useful guide.

Yours faithfully,

BARRY CUTTER

Ryde,

Isle of Wight

10 March