On 24th April the High Court ruled that the charges made by banks for going into the red or not having funds to pay a cheque or direct debit are bound by standard legal rules on the fairness of contracts. Read the rest of this entry »
The UK payments association APACS has announced a new banking payment system which will allow transfers between many bank accounts to be almost instantaneous.
High Street banks have reportedly repaid over £560 million to customers who feel they have been overcharged for unauthorised overdraft fees or unpaid item charges.
New industry figures from Apacs show that the use of cheques continued to decline in 2007, with the year showing the fastest fall in use since their peak in 1991. In all, 1.6 billion cheques were issued, representing a 9% drop over the previous year.
Lloyds TSB has announced a cut in the charges it levies on customers who go into the red without prior authorisation, and also a reduction in the amount it charges for bouncing a cheque. It is the first major bank to reduce its fees in light of the ongoing saga over possibly illegal and punitive charging levels, although Lloyds insists that the move is a response to customer feedback and not an attempt to stave off tighter regulation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
A study into the half-year performance of Britain’s largest high street banks has estimated that a total of £200m of ‘unfair’ charges have been refunded to customers who’ve initiated legal action over possibly punitive or excessive charges.
A piece in the Observer criticises popular direct savings account provider ING for failing to keep up with interest rate rises. While most competing accounts have passed on rate rises to savers, ING has once again declined to do so, leaving its savings rate of 5% now a full 0.75% below the Bank of England base rate.
Natwest is to launch a new account aimed at current account holders who regularly go into the red without having an agreed overdraft facility, for which they can be charged up to £38 each time. The new account will have a lower unauthorised ovedraft fee of £17, in exchange for a fixed monthly payment of £10.
Abbey customers using the bank’s online services encountered problems yesterday, with unrelated account details being displayed after logging on.
Customers reported being able to see direct debit details that didn’t belong to them, along with balances of accounts and transaction histories.
Research from Sainsbury’s Bank suggests that UK bank account holders have over £13bn of surplus cash sitting in current accounts paying a paltry 0.1% in interest.