Bank charges 'daylight robbery'
Published On 12 March 2007
Some 18.96 million British consumers have been charged bank fees totalling £4 billion, according to a new survey from price comparison site uSwitch.Over half of those who have been charged, 52 per cent, have not claimed their money back, which means that there is over £2 billion waiting to be claimed.
And as banks reportedly mull over instituting an annual fee for standard current accounts, the survey found that 83 per cent of customers would leave their bank if it took such a course of action.
Nick White, director of financial services at uSwitch, comments: "While the majority of banks are bending over backwards to refund bank charges to those consumers that take the initiative to fight back, this is not because the banks have gone soft in the last couple of months."
Banks would rather settle right away rather than go through a court case which could result in setting a legal precedent, Mr White added.
Exceeding one's overdraft limit is the most common cause of charges, the uSwitch survey found, affecting 71 per cent of customers.
Last year the big five high street banks in the UK made an overall profit of over £40 billion.
