New figures from consumer champion Which? show that, of around 12 million people that have been hit with bank charges since July 2001, over three in five, or 63 per cent, haven't asked for their money back yet.
With the Supreme Court's ruling on the test case due on 25 November, the banks could face a deluge of new complaints should the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) win. This is in addition to the estimated million plus claims that are currently on hold, said Which?
Around four in 10 claims waiting to be resolved are for amounts of GBP 500 or more, with four in ten people waiting for a claim resolution (41%) saying that they would use any refunded money to pay off bills or debts and around two in 10 saying they would spend it on shopping (20 per cent) or a holiday (18 per cent).
Which? personal finance campaigner, Phil Jones, said: "If the Supreme Court rules against them, the banks could find themselves staring down the barrel at millions of fresh claims. This is in addition to the huge backlog that's already built up since the waiver was put in place.
"With so much money at stake, the banks may well try to drag the process out even longer, so we'd warn people not to make any plans for their refunded cash just yet."
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