Free banking 'will be axed'

MPH80

richardmk wrote:

If one or two banks introduce charges, some of the others will use it as an opportunity to attract their customers by not making an annual charge and improving their own economies of scale.
You can almost see the advertising in the newspapers from Nationwide Building Society..

Yep - it'll work like that for a while. Then they'll discover that the banks that did start charging found the majority of the UK population reacted with complete apathy and it didn't hurt them. At which point, all the other banks will introduce charges so they can make more money.

M.

CopperPlate_2

Perhaps - but if you use Nationwide as the examply over ATM charging, it, and perhaps another couple of others, stood their ground on these charges, so we can only hope that there are some banks/bs's that are willing to do the same this time around.

Prosaic

With all the fuss being made increasingly in the media about consumer 'champions' getting their bank charges refunded this was always bound to happen

Banks are after all, businesses, and they don't appreciate being hit in the pocket, particularly by those who think 'terms & conditions' don't apply to them

The current system says 'stay in credit and we won't shaft you' - fall into debt and they'll punish you financially for doing so

Sure there are genuine hard luck cases where people fall into debt through illness or no fault of their own, but I'm guessing that thanks to our rabid consumer society the majority of those paying bank charges do not fall into this category- more likely they have spent what they do not have then blamed someone else for their lack of responsibility

One of the staff in my branch was telling me a customer had blamed their huge unauthorised OD in Jan/Feb on 'Well..Christmas came up didn't it?'

Hasn't Christmas come around at roughly the same time every year?
Its the world we live in now. Everyone wants entitlements, nobody wants responsibility

I hope those people are happy- seems we all are to pay the price now

pinkfluffybabe

CopperPlate wrote:

Perhaps - but if you use Nationwide as the examply over ATM charging, it, and perhaps another couple of others, stood their ground on these charges, so we can only hope that there are some banks/bs's that are willing to do the same this time around.

Nationwide seem to be good at standing apart from other banks e.g. spending abroad conditions. I would stick with them if they did certainly.

damo101

I have an irish bank account and there is a quartly charge of about 5 euros, which isn't excessive.

Regarding governments charging and stealth taxes, this happens in ireland - 10 euro levy on ATM cards and 40 euro levy on credit cards i think.

liuhut

Graham_Devon wrote:

HSBC has 15.6m customer. A £10 a month charge would make then £156m a month. I think I recall the first direct thread stating £10 per month. HSBC won't beat first direct.

First Direct are part of HSBC so I think that they will charge the same as them or around the same fee. Why would they not beat them??
Will be interesting to see what products you have to have so that they will not charge as not everyone has a Mortgage etc

M_Thomson

ricflairandy wrote:

This country is a bloody joke.

Shell announce record profits of x billion, yet keep upping the prices.

Yes this country is a joke. The high price of Petrol in the UK is not actually the fault of the oil companies. Margins on petrol forecorts are wafer fin. It is down to Gordon Brown and his huge taxes. Around 70p a litre you pay at the pump is given to Gordon. If we didn't have to pay this tax, we would have the cheapest petrol in the western world.
The bank charges that look like they are coming are down to people who choose not to follow the terms and conditions of the accounts they sign up to.

Afahmaep

M_Thomson wrote:

It is down to Gordon Brown and his huge taxes. Around 70p a litre you pay at the pump is given to Gordon. If we didn't have to pay this tax, we would have the cheapest petrol in the western world.

Re-issue of 'Jilted John' anybody?

dhug

LizD wrote:

Absolutely disgusting, more stealth taxes :mad:

If Banks do start charging it is not technically a tax it is a charge for a service, the banks are buisnesses in it to make money and like any buisness are always going to be looking at ways to increase their profit.
Playing devils advocate here would you expect to have any other service for free, take your car to the garage for a service and pay nothing? free electricity, gas and water?
The banks reason for existance is to make money always has been and as consumers find ways of stopping them doing that refunding bank charges stoozing and opening mutliple accounts to get "free" money so they will look at ways of mitagating this. Already we are seeing the end of free balance transfers and BT charges being made to stop people constantly shifting the debt around so maybe we shouldnt be suprised that now Bank charges rear their ugly head.
If they all charge then yes customers will leave but if they offer something in return some will stay its all about balance

inmypocketnottheirs

grex9101 wrote:

It still costs the bank to develop the software, maintain the servers, employ helpdesk/anti fraud staff. The only real saving would be premises, or lack thereof. And there aren't many (any?) internet only banks that aren't linked to one of the big four....

The Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (a mutual building society where you can still open a share account) offers a fully functional bank account with cheque book, debit card and normal current account facilities. https://www.npbs.co.uk