Free banking 'will be axed'

dchurch24

The banks will not be making a fee for a current account.

If they do, which is unlikley, then it will not be as a result of a few people claiming back a few million quid from them.

They would have done it in any case.

Mark7799

polajoo wrote:

Most people head to the DFW as a corrective measure rather than a preventative measure, I would imagine.

Prevention is better than cure:D and don't knock it until you've tried it:cool:

Tim_L

EagerLearner wrote:

He he - :beer: thanks but you're trying to lead me astray... only gambling I have done lately is the £10 Quidco money on Bingo site - and that was because I had to deposit £10 to get my £30 Quidco Cashback... won £36, spent £10 = maybe I am a good gambler after all :rotfl:

There's a technique known as matched betting which allows you to cash out gambling bonuses (and associated Quidco bonuses) without risking your own money, and which is explained on the Gambling Board. Check out Donglemouse's diary for an idea of what you can make, and the "easy free money through matched betting" thread, but it's very easy to make a £500 profit in a month or two. Many make thousands.

Certainly a good way for the profligate of building up a contingency fund so that the decent folk can sleep easy in their beds without worrying about what they'll have in their sandwiches next year (jam tomorrow, I say!).

EagerLearner

Tim_L wrote:

There's a technique known as matched betting which allows you to cash out gambling bonuses (and associated Quidco bonuses) without risking your own money, and which is explained on the Gambling Board. Check out Donglemouse's diary for an idea of what you can make, and the "easy free money through matched betting" thread, but it's very easy to make a £500 profit in a month or two. Many make thousands.

Certainly a good way for the profligate of building up a contingency fund so that the decent folk can sleep easy in their beds without worrying about what they'll have in their sandwiches next year (jam tomorrow, I say!).

:think: Hmmm... I like peanut butter in mine sometimes, so maybe I will... :think:

Only slightly awkward-maybe-little-problem thing is - I don't know how to bet! Apart from Bingo...

EagerLearner

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote:

The banks are doing this in response to the issues of 'unfair bank charges' that arose from conusmer groups such as this site. People didnt want to take responsibility for their own poor decisions (getting overdrawn, making late payments etc) and the consequence is that the banks had to make money up elsewhere.

Yep the country is in a bad way, not becuase of the banks, but because of joe consumer who wants to have his cake and eat it. Its a shame that people couldnt face up to the consequences of their actions by paying the penalty fees and now we may all have to pay fees.

Should this happen, I for one will chase down the last free current account, and if they happen to charge massive fees for going over drawn then great, because I take the time and make the sacrifices required not to inccur such charges.

A bit of a selection of sweeping generalisations too Dead-Eye - plus it sounds like you are blaming savvy consmers & this site for the fact that banks have been caught with their pants down charging twice the amount they should have been charging. It has been a nice little earner for them all this time, but it now has to stop and be fair - £12 is fair. It is because of this gem of a site that people are becoming more savvy about their finances, so MSE should be praised. :T

Although I do agree we are all responsible for our finances, I think the minority that get overdrawn etc don't do it out of choice, or wickedness.

I manage my money well, like you, but in this instance I don't 'blame' anyone - it's inevitable that even though the banks made a mint from the charges & we filled the fatcat's pockets by using their products, that they want more. If they are allowed to sting us consumers for the reclaimed charges by making monthly charges on current account, they will - but like you I will decide with my feet and move to another bank until they run out...

ihatepasswords

EagerLearner wrote:

Yup, that would be me, then Thing is, I would have more products with FD if they were competitive, which they are not right now. So whose fault is it I am costing them most... or more importantly, why would I pay them £10 a month to gain access to their more competitive products when I can just move to a more competitive bank...

That's part of the problem though - I am guessing that you have various different products with different suppliers as you are obviously savvy when it comes to money as you are on this forum. Nothing wrong with that at all of course, people who do their homework should be rewarded for it.

What has historically happend (well, in the last 10 years certainly) is that new players have come onto the scene offering loss leading rates to try to grab a share of the market. Tesco, Sainsbury, First-e, Egg, Smile, Cahoot, IF to name a few, but they soon have to change their rates as they are unsustainable. They have relied on inertia and apathy to hold onto a large chunk of those customers that they gained with the loss-leading rates.

Take Tesco, they had the best rates on savings back in 1997 but where are they now? Pretty average rates indeed.

The problem for the banks is more and more people are getting "savvy", partly due to the net and this means they have more and more customers who are making them a loss by going for their loss leading rates. The answer will be either poorer rates, or charges for having accounts as the OFT intervention means they can't make money by charging excessively for going overdrawn etc.

Sorry if I bored anyone!

EagerLearner

ihatepasswords wrote:

The problem for the banks is more and more people are getting "savvy", partly due to the net and this means they have more and more customers who are making them a loss by going for their loss leading rates. The answer will be either poorer rates, or charges for having accounts as the OFT intervention means they can't make money by charging excessively for going overdrawn etc.

But... they.. choose to seek us out with low rates... which we take up... then we make them money by banking with them... Consumer savvyness should bring costs down, as it allows fair competition, not up.

Anyway, does that mean the only way to avoid the charge would be to accept un-savoury and un-tasty non-tartable products with the same bank? All depends if these products 'save' us that £10 a month I guess.

Oh, my head hurts, never have been good at maths going out, only maths involving monies coming in :rotfl:

Graham_Devon

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote:

The banks are doing this in response to the issues of 'unfair bank charges' that arose from conusmer groups such as this site. People didnt want to take responsibility for their own poor decisions (getting overdrawn, making late payments etc) and the consequence is that the banks had to make money up elsewhere.

Yep the country is in a bad way, not becuase of the banks, but because of joe consumer who wants to have his cake and eat it. Its a shame that people couldnt face up to the consequences of their actions by paying the penalty fees and now we may all have to pay fees.

Should this happen, I for one will chase down the last free current account, and if they happen to charge massive fees for going over drawn then great, because I take the time and make the sacrifices required not to inccur such charges.

:T

Well said that man.

Mark7799

EagerLearner wrote:

Anyway, does that mean the only way to avoid the charge would be to accept un-savoury and un-tasty non-tartable products with the same bank? All depends if these products 'save' us that £10 a month I guess.

I think this is what it will come down to - you pay your money and make your choice. Now there may be more factors to consider when shopping for 'best' deals

ihatepasswords

EagerLearner wrote:

But... they.. choose to seek us out with low rates... which we take up... then we make them money by banking with them... Consumer savvyness should bring costs down, as it allows fair competition, not up.

Anyway, does that mean the only way to avoid the charge would be to accept un-savoury and un-tasty non-tartable products with the same bank? All depends if these products 'save' us that £10 a month I guess.

Oh, my head hurts, never have been good at maths going out, only maths involving monies coming in :rotfl:

Yes, but they then expect you to stay when they change their charges to make the accounts profitable or take other products with them which make a profit.

That's happening less and less nowadays so the loss leading rates will become a thing of the past, unless new players constantly enter the market. This has happened historically but is it likely to continue with the OFT and FSA getting more and more involved?