Are 'free' current accounts a thing of the past?

JeffreyR

On Thursday the Competition & Markets Authority will be publishing a report into current accounts that is expected to announce a number of measures to increase competitive in the sector. One of the measures that may be announced is a 'flat fee' for all current accounts.

While current accounts with fees attached have high customer satisfaction ratings (3 of the top 4 rated current accounts for value for money have a fee attached), some 62% aren’t willing to pay anything at all according to this PwC report.

What do you all think? Would you be prepared to pay for a current account?

joeblags

no, they use my money that's in the bank , why should I pay them to use my money?

joe134

They have never been free, someone pays,
, for those that don't, such as me, who never go into the red, and has never used an overdraft.


Economise sooner or Agonise later;

ChiefGrasscutter

joeblags wrote: »

no, they use my money that's in the bank , why should I pay them to use my money?

Err..... and you use their services to process your payments, maintain online and ATM systems etc - why should you NOT pay for this.

I suppose you do realise that the UK is pretty well unique in not charging customers for current accounts?

Joe_Bloggs

The present cost structure would be a Win-Win for both UK banking customers and UK banks if the banks could keep their hands away from money laundering /rate fixing/ illegal selling of insurance products etc. The banks fritter their shareholder's profits away in banking fines.


J_B.

colsten

The one thing we can all be sure about is that banks will always recover the not insignificant cost of running accounts. Regulations and laws might force them into changing how they recover those costs but they have never and won't ever provide accounts for free.

It's not the CMA's job to announce any banking fees but their findings may give more banks a good excuse to introduce further charges. That would be an enormous success (or was it a shot in the foot?) for those consumer advocates who pushed for the CMA review in the first instance.

EarthBoy

JeffreyR wrote: »

On Thursday the Competition & Markets Authority will be publishing a report into current accounts that is expected to announce a number of measures to increase competitive in the sector. One of the measures that may be announced is a 'flat fee' for all current accounts.

The CMA is supposed to encourage competition, not to make all banks do the same thing. How would they be meeting their remit if they forced all banks to charge a fee for current accounts?

mgdavid

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Err..... and you use their services to process your payments, maintain online and ATM systems etc - why should you NOT pay for this.

I suppose you do realise that the UK is pretty well unique in not charging customers for current accounts?

Er, and they have 'free' use of my money. Their provision of online access and ATMs is primarily to save them money (people costs).
BTW I have a current account in Australia that is not chargeable.

Nothing wrong with being unique if it's also the best.

mgdavid

JeffreyR wrote: »

.........

What do you all think? Would you be prepared to pay for a current account?

Nope, never have, never will.

MacMickster

Charging fees for bank accounts would be a backwards step in the drive for a cashless society. Whilst most would merely grumble about fees then get on with life (as with the carrier bag charge) I suspect that a small but significant minority would choose to withdraw from the banking system. Employers would come under pressure to revert to cash payment for some employees.

Indirectly, this would also likely lead to a growth in the black economy with the increasing use of cash.

colsten

mgdavid wrote: »

Nope, never have, never will.

Who do you reckon has been paying all those years for your bank account? The bank account fairy?

We have always been paying, we just never knew how much. But unconsciously, most of us probably felt we were paying a fair price.