Anyone hit with punitive credit card charges can still claim them back despite the suspension of bank charge claims. A landmark legal process to determine the fairness of overdraft charges on current accounts began with a High Court test case this week, which has meant all bank charge claims are on hold pending the outcome, which may take over a year.

But that does not apply to credit card charges, which you can still claim back. They are fees for late payment and for exceeding your credit limit – not interest charges or other administration fees – and you can claim back anything levied over the past six years.

We invited three guests onto the programme to show them how little work is involved in claiming back their charges. Between them, they can claim back up to £1,554.

Competition watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), described many of these fees as “unlawful” in April 2006 because they exceed the true cost to firms for the administration involved. The OFT also said at the time that any charges over £12 are unfair but that does not necessarily mean anything below £12 is fair, just that it won’t challenge a charge of £12 or below. Most credit card companies have since reduced their fees to £12.

With that in mind, if you do complain, you have to decide how much you want to claim back. You can either be militant and go for the whole lot, or go for the difference between £12 and each individual fee levied.

Further information, including template letters to send to your bank, is included in Martin's full Reclaim Credit Card Charges article.