Moneysupermarket Bank Charge Survey

by Gill Montia

Story link: Moneysupermarket Bank Charge Survey

Moneysupermarket.com, the comparison website, has issued a report highlighting dramatic differences between the unauthorised overdraft charges levied by UK banks.

For customers going £60 into the red charges vary from £25 to £133, depending on their bank. The system certainly lacks consistency and could be regarded as unjust.

Moneysupermarket.com researched the charges levied by the UK’s main High Street banks and the Nationwide building society. In each case it took the example of exceeding an authorised overdraft limit by £60, by bouncing three cheques during a one month period.

While HSBC would charge its customers £25 in such an instance, the Halifax, Alliance & Leicester and NatWest all imposed fees of over £100. The difference between the NatWest fee, which was the highest fee charged, and HSBC (the lowest) was £108.

The Office of Fair Trading is currently investigating bank charges and at the same time a number of bank customers are taking legal action to obtain refunds on charges considered unreasonable. The banks have argued that the charges are legal and in line with the agreements signed by their customers, however there have so far been a number of out of court settlements.