The National Union of Students has claimed victory over the global banking giant HSBC after mobilising protests on the social networking website Facebook.
Thousands of recent graduates who found the bank had suddenly started charging them for overdrafts made their anger known by joining a Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-Off! group on the website, started by NUS vice-president Wes Streeting. It attracted more than 4,000 members.
Today the bank froze overdraft charges to recent graduates and pledged to repay charges deducted in August while it holds talks with the NUS.
A spokesman for HSBC acknowledged the role of this new-style cyber campaign on Facebook.
"We are a service-oriented organisation and we have to listen to our customers - that is a priority for us.
"It's a good example of where a medium like Facebook has enabled customers to tell us something they feel strongly about," he added.
The NUS had originally planned a more conventional student protest next week outside the bank's London head office in Canada Square.
Mr Streeting said: "There can be no doubt that using Facebook made the world of difference to our campaign. By setting up a group on a site that is incredibly popular with students, it enabled us to contact our members during the summer vacation far more easily than would otherwise have been possible. It also meant that we could involve our former members - the graduates who were going to be most affected by this policy."
In July, HSBC became the first high street bank to scrap free overdrafts for university leavers, charging interest at 9.9%.
Recent graduates who had run up overdrafts were outraged to discover they faced unexpected bills of up to £140 a year.
In previous years HSBC, like other high street banks, had allowed students an interest-free overdraft - typically up to £2,000 - for the first couple of years after graduation.
But things are still likely to get tighter for graduates. Banks have rumbled the fact that students open two or three accounts, but only use one when it comes to paying in their graduate wages.