Uswitch "fag-packet figures" are dangerous nonsense

Research issued today by Uswitch is dangerous and potentially misleading, says the British Bankers' Association.

The report uses an online survey to extrapolate the amounts of unauthorised overdraft fees repaid to customers by banks over six years. However its analysis of its own figures is fundamentally flawed.

The following is wrong:

(i) Uswitch says there are 16.8 million overdraft fee-payers. This is inconceivable, as the Big Five banks operate only 8.5 million overdrafts;

(ii) Uswitch figures quoted from the recent half-year reports of the Big Five banks are assumed to cover claims in that period only. This is wrong. Banks have a requirement to report figures which are "material" and this is fully audited by the accountants. This is the first time these costs have been considered to be material. Individual claims in this period may well have been made about earlier years;

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