By Kate Hughes

Today saw the first step in the road to forcing banks to repay unfair overdraft charges to hundreds of thousands of account holders in the UK. The average refund due per person is around £742.

I reckon my rebate is around £250 plus interest, so as the banks make their decisions on just what they are going to do about losing £3.5bn a year in these lucrative fines, I'm out to get my money back - especially if they then turn around and make us all pay for our accounts as retaliation to keep their fat little paws on the profits.

By Kate Hughes

If I had realised just how much of a nightmare it was to switch my current account, I would never have been surprised by all those statistics that suggest we are more likely to get eaten by a shark, or killed by a falling coconut than switch our bank.

Until February, I, like every other personal finance reporter under the sun, was convinced that consumers were almost universally missing a trick by banking with the same establishment that their parents did. But I'm now three months into my own "big switch" and its an ongoing pain in the arse.

By James Daley

Over the last few months, Cash Crusader - along with The Independent's Save & Spend section - have been bringing some pressure to bear on the growing number of financial comparison websites, which are not nearly as transparent and honest with their users as they might be.

And we seem to be finally getting some results.

Over the last few days, Moneysupermarket.com, the UK's biggest comparison site, has made a number of small tweaks in response to our complaints, as has uswitch.com.

By Julian Knight

Be careful what you wish for. When Chancellor Darling mused in the aftermath of Northern Rock that he would like a return to old fashioned banking values he was derided by many. Well, now, as the credit crunch is getting worse rather than better it seems that it really is back to the future for the UK mortgage market.

To say mortgage lenders are twitchy following Bear Stearns and the recent turmoil is an understatement. Mortgage deals are being withdrawn right, left and centre as the credit market gums up. Some lenders are only giving brokers half an hour notice that deals are to be withdrawn. What’s happening is that mortgage firms are trying to rollback years of loose lending practices in double-quick time.

By James Daley

Tesco - Britain's biggest retailer - became the latest company to stop accepting cheques in its stores this week. It joins the likes of Sainsbury's, Asda, Argos, Boots and, as of tomorrow, Marks & Spencer.

When I dared to write that the death of cheques was no big deal - I was inundated with letters coming to their defence. But while I accept that they can be very handy when it comes to paying the plumber, or sending off a club membership fee - I really can't see what all the fuss is about when it comes to banning them in the shops.

By James Daley

Using your credit card abroad has become absurdly expensive over the past few years, with the average provider charging a whopping 2.63 per cent for every transaction you make when you're out of the country. On £500 worth of spending, that's more than £13!

This week, I received a letter from Virgin Money saying they were increasing their fees for overseas transactions to 2.99 per cent, and others in the market are sure to follow suit.

By James Daley

Here's an interesting observation that one eagle-eyed reader pointed out to me this week (and in my view, yet more evidence of the ways in which comparison sites manipulate the results on their websites).

By James Daley

This weekend sees the launch of the Cash Crusader's campaign to keep the financial comparison sites honest. While they now account for more than half of all motor insurance policy sales, and are selling an increasing proportion of many other financial products, they still remain completely unregulated. And while they have admittedly helped millions of consumers to get a better deal on their utility bills and insurance, there is still an awful lot of bad practice which goes unpunished.

The Cash Crusader blog is here to keep the financial services industry honest - turning the spotlight on mis-selling, unfair contracts and rip-off products. As well as calling the industry to account, we'll also keep the pressure on ministers to treat taxpayers fairly. Help our crusade by sharing your experiences and naming the worst culprits. You can also email us at cash@independent.co.uk.