Consumers would change bank over current accounts fees

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Consumers would change bank over current accounts fees

A survey by Which? has revealed that 79% of consumers would switch bank if monthly or yearly current account charges were introduced.

In addition, 73% surveyed said they felt that fees introduced for services currently on offer would be unfair.

A High Court test case was launched by the Office of Fair Trading and several high street banks to ascertain whether or not unauthorised overdraft charges were considered fair.

There is speculation that, should the overdraft charges be found to be excessive, the banks may introduce charges for current accounts in an effort to make up the lost revenue.

The survey found that 87% of people believed that the government should intervene to ensure any potential current account fees were not too high.

Doug Taylor, Which?’s personal finance director, described the findings as a warning shot to the banks, illustrating that fees for services that were previously free would lead to customers voting with their feet.

He added that the banking sector has only itself to blame for the negative coverage that the well-publicised overdraft charges hsa caused, and urged banks to put customers before profit.