The High Court Test Case between the Office of Fair Trading and seven major banks + Nationwide Building Society has ended with the judge, Mr Justice Andrew Smith saying ‘he had no idea’ when he would be able to give his ruling.

While the case has been going on, thousands of claims across the country for the refund of unfair bank charges have been put on hold.

The case took place with the full agreement of the banks, the OFT and the judiciary to determine the underling legal principles involved. The OFT is seeking a judgement that will allow it to rule on bank charges under consumer contract legislation.

Mr Justice Smith hopes that his eventual judgement will give guidance to the county courts. His draft judgement will be made available to a ‘tight circle’ of named lawyers for the OFT and banks to comment on typographical and factual errors, 24 hours later his judgement will be made public.

Unfortunately Mr Justice Smith could give no time-scale for when he expected to give his judgement. We believe a decision will be announced Mid March.

• Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) -14/05/2008
• PPI claims upheld -14/02/2008
• Hidden sting on credit cards -11/02/2008
• Cases need freezing -07/02/2008
• Court claims may resume -06/02/2008