Bank customers will have to wait until next year to find out if they can reclaim unauthorised overdraft charges from their bank. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is taking high street banks to court over their policy of charging customers at what many perceive as “punitive” rates for exceeding their overdraft limits. Tens of thousands of customers have already reclaimed the charges, but this week the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that banks did not have to make any more refunds until a legal ruling has been made about the charges.

Commercial Court judge Mr Justice David Steel ruled today that the trial will take place on a date to be agreed between mid-January and the end of February.

The OFT is going to court in conjunction with eight high street banks which have more than 80 per cent of the current account market. It is estimated that bank customers have racked up £1 billion in overdraft charges so far this year, after HSBC, one of the largest high street banks said that it spent £116 million on refunding customers between January and June.

David Kuo, of Fool.co.uk, the finance website, criticised the FSAs decision to stop payments until the outcome of the court case. The FSA’s decision plays directly into the hands of banks, which stand to benefit from any hold-up because we can reclaim unfair fees as far back as six years only. And since it could take forever before the Office of Fair Trading’s super-claim in the High Court is settled, any delay is beneficial to banks."

But the OFT and the banks involved, which include RBS, Abbey, Barclays, HSBC, HBOS, Clydesdale Bank, Lloyds TSB and Nationwide Building Society, vowed to keep the case moving as quickly as possible. While both sides have the right to appeal any decision, a spokesman from the OFT indicated that if the judgement was clear cut it expected all parties to stick by the decision.