After revealing last week that they are to stop selling Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) Lloyds this week revealed their results for the year so far and they made for good reading. The banking group reported better than expected first half profits, citing a reduction in losses from investments and payouts to shareholders, mainly due to the 41% Taxpayer stake taken by the Government.

Pre-tax profits over the first half of the calendar year totalled £1.6 billion, well above the forecast of £858 million and a vast improvement on the same period last year, when they reported a loss of £3.95 billion. The bank has seen a £14 billion increase in deposits since the end of last year and the lender’s income rose 5% to £12.5 billion, but given that it is still receiving £132 billion of Government support, the results shouldn’t be too loudly applauded.

Someone once said “To make millions in football you have to start with billions” or something like that, the point being that running a football club is an expensive hobby to have. And it’s not just top flight premiership clubs that can be guilty of strying into the red either, as one junior football team in Derbyshire recently found out.

A BBC Watchdog investigation revealed that Riverside under 15’s football club from Long Eaton, Derbyshire, was issued £800 worth of bank charges by HSBC for going just £2.57 overdrawn. The amount reached £260 before Manager Kevin Cooke was able to speak to anyone from the bank and was then told it was too high a debt for that department to deal with. By the time Mr Cooke was able to discuss the seemingly unfair bank charges with a representative from HSBC, the deficit had risen to a whopping £813.29.

After pressure from the TV show and the club, HSBC finally wrote off the debt and a representative of the bank said: “It is clear that we got it very wrong, we are in the process of contacting the club to apologise for what has happened as well as sending them some sports vouchers as a goodwill gesture.”

As you may know: the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) lost their case against the banks regarding the fairness of bank charges and we explained the ramifications of the decision shortly after the result. But many pundits and campaigners (including ourselves) took hope from the final words of Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court when he said that the OFT is free to bring the case back to court under different legislation.

With this statement ringing in all of our ears, you can imagine everyone is keen to know what the next move of the OFT will be. And because you stopped by the blog today, we can give you a heads up on their announcement.

It’s going to be next tuesday, 22nd December and the watchdog will reveal whether they are going to continue the fight against unfair bank charges. We can’t give you a time because the OFT are aware that what they have to say is likely to affect the stock market. But previous comments from the OFT suggest that the announcement will be at 6pm, after the markets close.

Lets hope they keep up the fight, especially after Martin Lewis revealed that (after expert legal advice) he believes there is a new ‘blockbuster argument’ that hasn’t been used previously.

The City’s seen some toys thrown out of the pram this morning as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) bosses have been campaigning for £1bn in bonuses. The board of the Government-owned bank have said they’ll walk out if staff don’t receive the bonuses and warned that the bank could lose all it’s best workers if the money isn’t paid.

Unsurprisingly, the Government isn’t too keen on the bonuses seeing as RBS has just had £70bn off of the taxpayer (£4600 per family in the UK) and as the majority shareholder they can refuse to pay. Some critics of the banks are saying let the board go and what with the recent Supreme Court decision on unfair bank charges, the Govt. need to give joe public a sign that the banking world is getting fairer.

Spanish bank Santander, which currently owns The Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leciester, has chosen the week before the bank charges test case decision to launch it’s new no-fee current account. No doubt they are hoping the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are watching as they roll out an account with no overfraft charges or fees for ATM access abroad.

However, there is a rather large and unavoidable catch with this very generous offering – the so-called ‘Santander Zero Current Account’ is only available to customers who take out a mortgage as well. Fair play to Santander for trying, but like most of the rest; they can’t just do something competitive, no strings attached.

And now for a ‘let’s hope they mean it this time’ moment…

‘Bankers who take “reckless” risks could be stripped of future bonuses’.

These are the words of HM Government and are echoed by the City minister Lord Myners who said that banks now have to be more secure and must never rely on taxpayers money again.

Naturally, the bankers are worried how they’ll cope without an extra £mill round the tree at Christmas and the British Bankers’ Association have spoken out. They say that the UK’s future as a major global centre for finance could be threatened. That’s as maybe but at least 2 million jobs, hundreds of thousands of homes and countless families will no longer be threatened by the financial conceit of high street banks.

People: watch out. They’re round every corner, on every main street, long established institutions with high levels of security – no, I’m not talking Goldsmiths and H Samuels, I am of course talking about banks. And it seems they all may have a sneaky plan to claw back the money they’ve lost/been fined/ran out of/paid in bonuses/paid out in bank charges (you choose) in the form of increased credit card fees.

According to industry sources, UK banks are planning to hike credit card charges by introducing annual payments and rising interest rates. There’s no doubting it will fill some of the gap they’ve created but experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers claim the increase is necessary for another reason. The recession, unemployment and all the rest has led to bad credit card debt rising by 50% to almost £5billion and these fees, they say, will encourage people to ditch credit or pay it off earlier.

It’s not just individuals that have been hit by bank charges but businesses as well and especially small to medium-sized firms (SMEs). These enterprises are the fundamental component of British Industry and act as a real indicator of economic recovery.

So as you can imagine, it’s important that they get the support they need from their banks. But instead of encouraging business to blossom, most SME’s are being faced with increased overdraft charges, a lack of credit and the calling in of loans. The most worrying thing is that nearly 90% of small firms bank with the big four meaning any changes they make have a massive impact.

Are you sitting down? Because we’ve got some shocking news – A major bank is scrapping overdraft fees as from October. I Know! The thing is, it’s National Austrailia Bank (NAB) but it’s a move that is thought to help UK-based victims of bank charges.

NAB said that as of October; it’s going to get rid of their £15 charge for going overdrawn without permission. This could possibly see other lenders within the NAB group also abolish fees, those banks include The Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks although early reports indicate they will not be scrapping the charges.

NAB’s spokesperson Lisa Gray said:
“Most of our customers who experience these fees don’t think it is fair. Getting rid of them will improve our relationship with customers”.

Lisa hits the nail on the head and although bank charges claims are still on hold pending the outcome of a test case those experienced financial hardship can have their claim heard.

If you’re interested in getting your money back from the banks, but aren’t sure how much you could receive, you can now use a simple Excel spreadsheet calculator to ‘figure out the figure’. The guys at personal finance news website thisismoney.co.uk have 2 downloadable claim calculators that will help you put an amount on the bank charges you’ve paid out.

They’re easy to use and free, which means you can quickly see exactly how much of your money has been pocketed by the bankers before you start your bank charges refund claim.