What Is Your Bank Charging You? A Guide To Bank

What Is Your Bank Charging You? A Guide To Bank Charges

When you’re shopping around for a bank account there are a lot of factors to consider. Many people go for up-front incentives, such as money paid into the bank account, vouchers or a gift. However, it is worth looking at bank accounts in more depth to find out what you might be paying for various transactions. Here are some of the transactions that banks might charge you for.

Authorised Overdraft

An overdraft is like a short term loan. The bank gives you permission to spend more than the funds you have in your account. This amount is usually fixed in consultation with the bank and may be reviewed at stated periods. Some banks have a free authorised overdraft up to a certain limit and charge for any balance over that limit. This is the best way to arrange an overdraft.

Unauthorised Overdraft

When customers spend more than they have in their accounts without arranging an overdraft limit, this is known as an unauthorised overdraft. Banks penalise customers heavily for this by charging an unauthorised overdraft fee of more than 35 in some cases. The excess spending will also be charged interest at a higher rate than normal.

Cheque Services

Some banks charge for clearing cheques more quickly than the standard period (this can range from three to seven days depending on the banks involved and the day of the week). There may also be fees for processing cheques in a foreign currency.

Taking Money Out

Sometimes customers need to set up direct debits, where companies take certain sums from a bank account each month. They may also wish to set up standing orders, where they arrange to pay a certain amount to another bank account or company each month. Some banks charge a setup fee for these services. . It is also worth looking at the daily withdrawal limit on a current account. This can vary widely depending on the bank you choose.

Other Bank Charges

Banks may also charge for other services such as:

1. setting up a loan facility
2. changing or issuing foreign currency
3. writing cheques that exceed the cleared balance in an account
4. stopping a lost cheque

Banks will also charge customers if they have to write to them about an infraction of bank rules, such as exceeding the overdraft limit or defaulting on loan repayments. This means that defaulting customers have to repay the debt as well as the additional charges.

Doing some research could save consumers a small fortune in bank charges. In addition for looking for incentives, consumers should look for banks that keep their charges as low as possible. With a bit of digging, it is easy to find banks with:

5. an automatic overdraft limit for which there is no charge
6. free standing orders and direct debits
7. free transfers between banks
8. low unauthorised overdraft fees
9. low charges for other bank transactions

Choosing a bank that fits this profile will help with overall financial health.

Make the Most of Your Savings Interest Rates – Stop

Make the Most of Your Savings Interest Rates – Stop the Bank Putting Your Money in Their Back Pocket

There is a common trend in the banks at the moment which has to do with savings accounts and savings interest rates. If you keep your savings with the same bank in the same account for a number of years, you would expect your bank to look after you. But they do not and actually take advantage of this.

The banks release a savings account. They advertise it, use it to attract new customers or convince existing customers to transfer their savings to them. The customers, being quite happy with the rates and the terms, forget about their savings interest rates knowing that they have the return that they expected.

Then after 6 months to a year the bank get bored of that savings account and decide on the next big marketing push and release another type of savings account. The terms maybe a little different. The savings interest rates is usually different. And the same thing happens again, attracting new customers etc.

But what happens to the old savings account?

Well at first the savings interest rates stay much the same. But gradually over the next year or so they reduce the rates so that in the end the rates offered are much the same as being offered on a current account. Near to 0% in most cases.

And unless you make steps to review your savings interest rates with the bank, they will let your interest decrease and will not tell you about it.

It has been my experience that working in the bank that if I see a customer has an old savings account, where the rate has dwindled away, that I make a point of telling them. At worst I will make sure that they are upgraded to the most recent form of savings account that I can to provide them with the most interest.

I can tell you though, that not all of my colleagues do the same, nor are they encouraged to do so by their superiors. Upon the release of a recent new Cash ISA savings account, we were actually instructed not to upgrade customers from the old Cash ISA accounts, to the new one unless the customer actually asked us.

The reason for this is clear. The bank takes advantage of their position of holding your money. They take your money which they make a profit on anyway. Then they pay you less and less interest over time so that they actually make more and more profit on.

How is that for your continued loyalty!

My advice is to review your savings interest rates with your bank every 12 months. Before you go into a conversation with them, make sure you know exactly what rates they would offer if you are a new customer. Then also find out what the nearest competitor is offering so that if they do not offer best possible option, you have another choice of where to make the most of your money.

For the last 5 years I have worked in a high street bank. During this time I have specialised in helping customers get the best savings interest rates.

That’s why I have created this special page to advise on the things to look out for when you want to get the best interest rates on savings.

Internet Banking – Which Web Bank is Right For You

Internet Banking – Which Web Bank is Right For You

Finding information online seems like the proverbial search for the needle in the haystack with so many sites and adverts vying for attention just thinking about searching for an internet bank is enough to bring on a headache. However, it might well be worth the effort out of the five best-paying current accounts today, four are provided by internet banks. With a difference of two or three percent, the benefits could be substantial.

Enter online banking into your search browser, and youll pull up several independent sites comparing different banks and accounts. While the special offers can change day to day, there are a few banks that have been performing consistently well the big three being Cahoot, Egg and Smile. Cahoot is the online arm of Abbey National, and the Co-operative Group runs Smile, but both currently offer better deals than their high street counterparts. Intelligent Finance is also a contender. Shop around to find what suits you best whether its a low rate loan or a high performance current account, the right choice will depend on your individual needs and situation.

Take into account things like customer service as well as the terms offered its important that you can contact your bank easily when you need to, and that dealings with them are not an unpleasant ordeal. Even if you conduct most of your business online, there are still likely to be occasions when you need to speak to a human being, and friendly, well-informed staff can make a vast difference to your banking experience. First Direct is now planning to introduce a virtual bank clerk to make online banking more customer friendly.

Ease of use is another factor a bank with a website that is easy to navigate will help you plan your finances with the least amount of hassle. Online banking has now come a long way from the days you could only view your account online you can now pay bills, set up direct debits and transfer money between accounts at the click of your mouse. Egg have recently introduced a service called Egg Pay that lets you securely send money to friends and family via email, and in future we can expect account aggregation an overview of all your financial dealings on one web site that will help make your transactions more efficient.
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Moneywise and Which magazines are good sources of information to compare banks with check out their websites.

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in decision-making.

52% of us have moved our savings because we were unhappy with customer service, according to the latest moneyfacts.co.uk user polls. 42% of us have avoided a particular account provider due to a friends bad experience.

With bank account providers, 46% of us have moved current account because of bad customer service and 45% have avoided a certain bank because of a friends bad experience.

Accessing our banking and savings via the internet is becoming increasingly popular but still many of us prefer to pick up the phone or visit a branch. Our finances are something that we need to take seriously and can cause a lot of stress. This means when we want to discuss them or need help, we need to be treated fairly and receive a good service.

Banks are continually being slated in the press for unfair charges and for things such as going overdrawn. This, along with hearing about people close to us having had a bad experience, would be enough to put many of us off choosing a certain account provider. However important good service is to us, we should still be aware of interest rates being offered by different providers.

The average rate of interest paid on current accounts is 1% gross on a balance of 1. However, current account best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that rates of over 4% can be earned on these accounts. Banking facilities should also be looked at when choosing your current account. For instance, is it important to have a branch near to you? Do you want to use internet banking?

As well as these things, if you use an overdraft on your current account it is wise to compare rates of interest on these. Moneyfacts research of overdrafts shows that some providers are charging EARs (Effective Annual Rates) on authorised overdrafts of over 20% and for unauthorised overdrafts over 30%. Again, best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that better deals are available with rates on authorised overdrafts as low as 0% (introductory) and unauthorised at under 6%.

Rates on savings accounts also vary greatly. On no notice accounts at 1,000 the average rate of interest is around 2%. The savings best buys charts show that rates of over 4.5% can be found. Again, account facilities should be considered.

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in decision-making.

52% of us have moved our savings because we were unhappy with customer service, according to the latest moneyfacts.co.uk user polls. 42% of us have avoided a particular account provider due to a friends bad experience.

With bank account providers, 46% of us have moved current account because of bad customer service and 45% have avoided a certain bank because of a friends bad experience.

Accessing our banking and savings via the internet is becoming increasingly popular but still many of us prefer to pick up the phone or visit a branch. Our finances are something that we need to take seriously and can cause a lot of stress. This means when we want to discuss them or need help, we need to be treated fairly and receive a good service.

Banks are continually being slated in the press for unfair charges and for things such as going overdrawn. This, along with hearing about people close to us having had a bad experience, would be enough to put many of us off choosing a certain account provider. However important good service is to us, we should still be aware of interest rates being offered by different providers.

The average rate of interest paid on current accounts is 1% gross on a balance of 1. However, current account best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that rates of over 4% can be earned on these accounts. Banking facilities should also be looked at when choosing your current account. For instance, is it important to have a branch near to you? Do you want to use internet banking?

As well as these things, if you use an overdraft on your current account it is wise to compare rates of interest on these. Moneyfacts research of overdrafts shows that some providers are charging EARs (Effective Annual Rates) on authorised overdrafts of over 20% and for unauthorised overdrafts over 30%. Again, best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that better deals are available with rates on authorised overdrafts as low as 0% (introductory) and unauthorised at under 6%.

Rates on savings accounts also vary greatly. On no notice accounts at 1,000 the average rate of interest is around 2%. The savings best buys charts show that rates of over 4.5% can be found. Again, account facilities should be considered.