MSE News: PM wants swift bank charges compensation

martybassman

Hi everyone, I'm not too up on all the jargon but do understand why people want money back from bank charges taken over the years, for many people that would be a substantial sum i imagine, might be due a few bob myself from years ago!!

My question is that, i assume, if charges come back as unfair/illegal, then there would be a restructure where any charges would be just to recover costs, then the banks being a business would look to make a profit understandably. Does anyone think it may come to having to pay a monthly fee or subscription even just for a basic bank account? I read that in countries like Poland, its commonplace to pay for an account. Personally for myself, i wouldn't be getting that much back as i've not been overdrawn in a few years, and wouldn't want to pay however much a month for an account. Wondered if anyone had any ideas on this as at the end of the day, with the banks losing any potential charges money, the customers that have never had any charges may, potentially be penalised, and that doesn't seem entirely fair.

natweststaffmember

martybassman wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm not too up on all the jargon but do understand why people want money back from bank charges taken over the years, for many people that would be a substantial sum i imagine, might be due a few bob myself from years ago!!

My question is that, i assume, if charges come back as unfair/illegal, then there would be a restructure where any charges would be just to recover costs, then the banks being a business would look to make a profit understandably. Does anyone think it may come to having to pay a monthly fee or subscription even just for a basic bank account? I read that in countries like Poland, its commonplace to pay for an account. Personally for myself, i wouldn't be getting that much back as i've not been overdrawn in a few years, and wouldn't want to pay however much a month for an account. Wondered if anyone had any ideas on this as at the end of the day, with the banks losing any potential charges money, the customers that have never had any charges may, potentially be penalised, and that doesn't seem entirely fair.

Banks made a lot more money from not paying interest to you on a current account. At the moment that amount is not much due to interest rates being low at the moment. There is no reason to believe that they would not, even if they did charge, for an account, not offer a basic account with little or no charge to you. I cannot see building societies charging you for an account.