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

jimjames

djpailo wrote: »

Does anyone know why faster payments has a limit?

Security? How many people need to move more than £100k in one go?

mgdavid

jimjames wrote: »

Security? How many people need to move more than £100k in one go?

£100k is not the universal FP limit; my bank sets it at £25k.

Archi_Bald

mgdavid wrote: »

£100k is not the universal FP limit; my bank sets it at £25k.

Is that the same bank that charges no fees for CHAPS,?

dzug1

jimjames wrote: »

Security? How many people need to move more than £100k in one go?

Buying a house?

Archi_Bald

Apparently it all remains business as usual: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11946298/The-big-banks-will-not-be-broken-up-competition-watchdog-set-to-rule-in-their-favour.html

Although the CMA is said to request all sorts of things from banks which will cost a lot of money to implement and run. Somebody's got to pay for those things, and I am sure we all know who that somebody is. Thanks CMA, great job to make everything more expensive.

Archi_Bald

Meanwhile, TSB are apparently lobbying the CMA for more changes. I wish they'd lobby themselves for finally making Apple Pay available.

http://www.tsb.co.uk/news-releases/tsb-calls-for-banking-to-be-exposed/

mgdavid

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Is that the same bank that charges no fees for CHAPS,?

I cannot tell whether you are:
a) being disingenuous
b) haven't read the whole thread
c) have a comprehension issue, or
d) something else

For clarity, yes it is the same bank, yes they do charge fees for CHAPS, but some customers are exempt from those charges, I am among the latter.

Archi_Bald

mgdavid wrote: »

I cannot tell whether you are:
a) being disingenuous
b) haven't read the whole thread
c) have a comprehension issue, or
d) something else

For clarity, yes it is the same bank, yes they do charge fees for CHAPS, but some customers are exempt from those charges, I am among the latter.

I asked a simple question, no need to throw your toys. Thanks for the answer, anyway.

Actually, I had asked two simple questions in the context - the first one was which bank it is but you seem to have overlooked that Q.

Zanderman

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 report summary is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-proposes-better-deal-for-bank-customers

And it says...

The CMA provisionally decided not to recommend remedies aimed at ending free if-in-credit (FIIC) accounts as it saw no convincing evidence that the prevalence of the FIIC model distorted competition, noted that some banks have already devised accounts which compete with FIIC through the rewards they offer, and also noted that FIIC accounts give a reasonable deal to many customers.

So the answer to the question "Are 'free' current accounts a thing of the past?" is...

No.

For now at least.

camperdown9

MacMickster wrote: »

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.

Yes as things stand at the moment, but what if things change. UK Government is not afraid of charging a bit of tax. HM revenue could use the excuse that they are trying to tighten up on people who are avoiding income tax to restrict the amount of cash we use.

France for example charges for banking. We pay around €40 per month to have a current account.

There is a legal limit to the amount of cash you can use to pay for any transaction. Also French cash machines have a weekly rather than daily limit of cash that you can withdraw. Ours is €500. There are also no cashier services in the bank, you have to use a machine.

So to get large amounts of cash is difficult and to received them is nearly as bad. So someone gives you €5000 what do you do with it? You can't pay it into the bank, you can't pay the mortgage or buy a car with it. Yes you can spend it in the supermarket etc but its not that easy to get rid of.

Maybe I am being cynical but I really think this sort of behaviour is coming. Its going to be sold to us as "the hard working families of Britain are being robbed by people who are avoiding paying income tax".