As I predicted, the banks will not accept the possibility of a cap to their overdraft charges.
As such they are raising the the monthly fees on accounts, by up to 20%, before the ruling by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that could cap overdraft charges.
The Times estimates that approximately 7 million customers will be adversely affected by this move.
Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Lloyds TSB will all raise their fees on the "packaged" accounts (ie ones that offer "extras" such as insurance).
Needless to say, next in line will be the free current accounts currently offered by the banks.
As I have repeated, time and time again on this site, banks are not charitable institutions. Block their revenue stream in one direction, and they will find a way around that blockage.
However, quite why people sign up to the "packaged" accounts is a mystery to me; they offer no tangible value for money, most certainly not after this round of price increases.
Dump them!
No comments:
Post a Comment