ARTICLE...
Which one is theft?
Is it me, or is the non payment of a debt becoming socially acceptable practice? The worrying thought is: where will it all end?
If it is now socially acceptable to use the bank's money to buy goods and then refuse to pay them back, how long before it is socially acceptable to cut out the middleman and simply take the goods from the shop itself?
Taking goods without the intention of paying is, of course, theft. Why is it not theft to take the bank's money if you have no intention of paying them back?
So the OFT are pondering whether not to continue the battle. To summarise, you go into a bank, open an account an sign a contract agreeing that, if you write a cheque knowing there are insufficient funds in your account – that is using someone else's money without their permission – the bank will charge you £30.
The government thinks that unfair but, curiously, seems to think it reasonable for a local authority to charge a £60 fee if you go one minute over on a parking meter, and have been allowed to get away with terrorising the 'consumer' for years with fees of £150 plus for very minor parking 'offences'.
Original article, by Bob Kingdon (Head of Compliance, 1st Credit), courtesy of CCR.
