MSE News: OFT delivers 'flaccid' report on future of bank charges

davidgmmafan

Seriously what is the point of this lot? Or any or the waste of time 'watchdogs' and 'regulators' we have in this country?

"Greater ability for customers to 'opt out' of being granted unarranged overdraft facilities and the charges associated with them"

I see no reason why this cannot be introduced immediately, at least we have the hope that with the OFT out of the picture the campaign will regain momentum.

esmerellda

That should be introduced immediately.

As should the real time balances.

The technology and capability is there.

This stalling is just so the banks can find other ways to screw over vulnerable people before they lose excessive charging as an income stream.

WASHER

The OFT have no backbone, end of.

I see nothing changing anytime soon and I would personally give up with reclaiming any bank charges, waste of time, and life is too short, I think the OFT gave a lot of people false hope a few years ago, and the media fell for it, I am not blaming anyone else but the OFT....as much use as a chocolate fireguard!

mikeandrach_2

if i go to a shop, and steal a product, i expect to be punished. i have consciously gone there and moved muscles/limbs to perform that act. if i forget to cancel a dd, switch some money or simply forget what my balance was, with no malice intent, i can get fined, which if it throws my budget means i get more fines,and so on and so on.
if i go into a shop and steal a product worth £50, intentionally, what punishment would i get?
if i 'ask' for an unauthorised overdraft of 10p due to a genuine error, what punishment would i get?

ILW

mikeandrach wrote: »

if i go to a shop, and steal a product, i expect to be punished. i have consciously gone there and moved muscles/limbs to perform that act. if i forget to cancel a dd, switch some money or simply forget what my balance was, with no malice intent, i can get fined, which if it throws my budget means i get more fines,and so on and so on.
if i go into a shop and steal a product worth £50, intentionally, what punishment would i get?
if i 'ask' for an unauthorised overdraft of 10p due to a genuine error, what punishment would i get?

I would have thought that the answer was not to run your account so close to the limit that 10p was an issue.

esmerellda

Some people have no choice

BUT this has been discussed a billion times before and we all have to agree to disagree

kev2b3

Maybe the OFT should pat themselves on their spineless backs and give themselves a great big bonus.

mikeandrach_2

calling someone a moron does not go against forum etiquette. it is not being rude, it is stating a fact. in my view, ILW is a moron based on the tone of his comments.
i agree debts should be repaid, but a debt needs to be exactly that, a debt. a bank racking up hundreds of pounds in charges is not a debt. it is profiteering.
i hope in a nice way that one day you are in a position where you accidentally incur a charge, which maybe you dont notice, then incur another charge, and quickly owe a 3 figure sum of money. lets see if your view stays the same then. apologies if i have offended anyone, however if you are offended by the word moron being used in a non aggressive way perhaps you should be looking for deeper help than an internet forum can offer.

WASHER

Oh, but I have been charged by the banks for a failed Direct Debit, a few times in the past actually when I had the credit card debt and was struggling, I repaid the charges, as I said they may not be fair but thats life, banks are not charities, they are a business out to make money from me and you, I certainly do not want to be paying for personal banking in the future because the charges are lowered to a nominal fee, that simply isn't fair to all.

You say a debt is a debt, but I had to repay interest charges on that debt so what is the difference? Credit card companies make money from the high interest they charge.

As I stated in my earlier post, with online banking their isn't any real excuse for not noticing a late payment fine, you would notice if your salary hadn't been paid in or your mortgage hadn't gone out as expected, no reason for not seeing the bank charge. I remember getting letters from the bank informing me too of the charges, no excuse for not noticing.

mikeandrach_2

why should we all expect free banking? we dont expect free phone calls, or tv, or postage, or holidays, so why banking? its simply because we are used to it that we dont want it to change. imagine this though, a bank who had branches in every major town, good online banking, a uk 24/7 call centre that you didnt have to press 19 options for, a bank that gave you live real time balances, and that didnt charge anyhting other than interest for borrowing, authorised or not. are you honestly telling me you wouldnt be prepared to pay £10 or even £20 a month for this? you are no more entitled to free banking than th ebanks are entitled to screw me and other like me for hundreds of pounds in charges.