Sorry Luke...but it's your fault. If you had managed your finances and not gone over your overdraft limit you wouldn't have been charged and had to pay the fees. Simple. You signed and read the contract and now you're bleeting about fairness. Welcome to real life.

Galen Moore, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Banks are ripping off the customer. I was charged 25 pounds for a per fprma letter regarding my mortgage payments. The government must act to help the cunsumer.

hamad lone, London, England

The Banks prey on those who have no money and are at their weakest. This coud be justified to some extent when cash was an accepted form of payment, but now that we are encouraged to haveour salaries and make payments through bank accounts, then the Banks need to be more accountable to their customers.
What part of £35 does it cost to say no and bounce a cheque and send you a letter, also putting your account into an unoffivcial overdraft and paying unnecessary high intrest on it.
Here in the USA it is called 'junk fees' which they are, unqualified sums of money charged to clients for work not done or services received,
We are being asked to feel sorry for bank executives whose bonuses have been reduced last year because of losses in the sub prime mortgage market, when the minimum bonus paid was £100,000 and reaching into the millions for some, let the barristers explain the fairness in that at the trial.

Derek Willmott, Fayetteville, USA

I live (and bank) both in UK and Vienna. My Austrian bank which provides far superior service makes no charge and I can ring or e-mail my personal banker direct with queries. Try that on the NatWest call centre.

David Goulden, Vienna, Austria

The banks themselves are responsible for the flood of claims. By settling out of court and preventing real cases from setting president they have indicated that they believe there is a good chance they will lose. Banks in the past have used these fees as a way of getting rid of unwanted customers and have made huge amounts of money out of other peoples misery. Despite making Millions / Billions of Pounds profit, they are still trying to carry favour with the general public by suggestting that should they lose this case it is likely that they will no longer be able to provide free banking to personal customers. These charges are unrealistically high and banks should be brought to account. More over this should come out of their ever increasing profits and not out of other peoples pockets. Credit Crunch or not.

James, London,

I have an old student account with Halifax, which essentially just sits there, as I have a current account with Lloyds that I use more often.

What happens is, the interest creeps past my overdraft limit, which will only be a matter of pence, but then they charge me £28 straight away and then additional charges for days afterwards.

I worked out I had paid the bank more than £800 between 2003 and 2007 as a result. I tried to claim the money back but was refused. How's that fair? My overdraft was £1250. I could've paid most of it off. Bloodsuckers.

Luke, Bedford, UK