To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) discussions and (b) meetings have taken place between (i) officials and (ii) Ministers in his Department and the Office of Fair Trading on the OFT investigation of default charges on (A) credit cards and (B) bank current accounts. (104863)

No meetings have taken place between Treasury Ministers and the OFT to discuss these investigations. Officials have discussed both the investigation into credit card default charges and the investigation into bank account default charges with the OFT on a purely informative basis as part of wider discussions on competition inquiries into the banking sector. The OFT is an independent competition and consumer protection authority and considers cases on the basis of the objective information that it collects.