The modern merchants of Venice

It's official! The banks have been illegally ripping us off. The Guardian reports:

"Charges for late payments on credit cards, typically £20-£25, were yesterday declared illegal by the Office of Fair Trading, which ordered banks to slash fees to a maximum of £12 - and cut charges for bounced cheques and unauthorised overdrafts to similar levels. The ruling sent shockwaves through the banking industry, which earns £2bn in revenue from penalty charges, and wiped millions off the value of shares in Britain's high street banks.
The OFT said the charges amounted to an unfair penalty on millions of Britons who forgot to pay on time or mistakenly went overdrawn. It said the penalties were illegal as they breached unfair contract laws, and that in future, banks would only be able to charge customers the true underlying administration costs, such as postage and stationery. If banks fail to comply - they have until May 31 to respond - the OFT says it will begin legal proceedings to enforce the £12 cap."

Now, if only the OFT would address some of the other banking rip-offs, such as the time taken to process cheques and other bank transfers or the extortionate exchange rates for buying and selling foreign currency.