Bank charges explained by Halifax

Nov 02, 2009 | Comments 4

A court ruling to curb bank charges is expected any day soon. Several banks have pre-empted the ruling by changing their charges, and Halifax (AMEX:HX) are the latest to attract criticism this week.

Many of Halifax’s account customers are feeling hard done by because of the bank’s decision to shake up the way it charges for overdrafts. On one hand the system is certainly simpler. Instead of charging for each unauthorised transaction and levying separate interest charges, the bank will now charge a flat fee for each day the account is overdrawn. Interest and transaction charges will be abolished.

If the overdraft is authorised, the fee will be £1 a day up to £2,500 and £2 a day on larger sums. If however the borrowing is unauthorised, the charge rises to £5 a day. The new system will commence on December 6th. Although some customers will be better off, most will be worse off. Those who regularly use an authorised overdraft to borrow small amounts are among the biggest losers.

To read more on bank charges and to see some examples go to telegraph.co.uk.

Filed Under: Business News

Tags: Halifax

tracy gould
my son was charged 3 times 28 for goin over drawn on a visa elctron card, he went over by 1 penny and has been charged 84 pounds so far , visa electron i thought u had to have all the money u need in it if u havent got enough u cannot have it
Pete
Not the case i’m afraid Tracy. Some banks may choose to decline the payment due to insufficient funds yes, but rip offs like HBOS will happily let you run over and punish you with £35 – plus £28 an unarranged overdraft charge for the month. It’s sickening I know, I bought a jug of milk for £1.69 and it ended up costng £64.69. I had the change in the car too! Could this be the most expensive milk ever bought??? Thanks HBOS, but your time is up, get ready to hand back our cash.
Peter Hodgson
LLoyds have been doing this for over 9 months now. But they dont charge a mear £1 or £2 a day, oh no they charge a lot more.
Unplanned Overdraft balance is:
less than £25 £6 a day
£25 to £100 £15 a day
more than £100 £20 a day
This could see you paying a high price rather than the original £30 per time you went over. An employee told me it was to try and keep accounts in credit…. but what about next month when they give me these charges and I go deeper into debt.
Banks use our money to make money and when they need help they use our money (from the Government) to make even more money.
Rapid Reclaimer
The banks are about to get skinned even more… but make sure you read about reclaiming and get your money back.
Although current account claiming is currently on hold due to the OFT case (unless you’re in financial hardship), it does not apply to other unfair charges, for example loan and credit card charges so get reclaiming those now!
You could also claim back charges for PPI and other unfair charges for missed / late payments.
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