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RBS cut evil customer charges - well, a bit.

8 September 2009
By Andy Dawson

bank-mouse

Are you one of those people hovering on the breadline, having found yourself being shafted on a regular basis by your bank’s disgusting and unlawful charges?

If you’re a customer of the government-controlled RBS/Nat West banking beast, there’s some good news – those obscene £30 penalty charges for paying an item from an overdrawn account have been slashed in half and are now a slightly-less-obscene-but still-pretty-nasty £15.

Better still, if you have a bounced cheque, you’ll only be charged £5, down from a massive and scarcely believable £38. As the OFT has previously deemed any charge less than £12 as not worthy of investigation, the £15 figure is still a kick in the teeth but it’s an improvement.

Nick Spooner of the campaign group Legal Beagles said: “This announcement [by RBS-Natwest] is highly significant. I would expect most of the other banks to follow suit quite quickly.” But Marc Gander, of the Consumer Action Group, wasn’t so generous, saying: "Apart from the £5 charge, I think that the others are still much too high."

All in all, it’s too little too late. Next month should see the House of Lords delivering a definitive ruling on the matter, with the refund floodgates set to open shortly afterwards. That is unless the banks refuse to back down and seek leave to appeal to the court of the moon king from Georges Melies’ pioneering 1902 science fiction film ‘Le Voyage Dans La Lune.’

You never know with these weasels.

By the way, if you’re planning to leave a comment pouring scorn on those people who are regularly hit by bank charges, criticising them for failing to keep their finances in order, you might like to shut the fuck up – you’re completely missing the point.

TOPICS:   Banking

16 comments

  • andy y.
    BS.The point is don't write cheques you can't honour.Why the fuck should I have to end up paying a fee to run a current account because every fucker that insists on living beyond their means wants a refund of charges they agreeed to? Everything is someone elses fault
    Reply ·
    • Andy D.
      Fuck me, here we go again. No one is arguing against charges for mismanaged account tranasctions as long as the charges are proportionate and fair. £38 for a bounced cheque is not proportionate or fair. The idea that the end of massive bank charges will lead to the end of free banking is a convenient way for the banks to continue to profiteer at the expense of us all. Contracts exist for both parties, not just the stronger of the two.
      Reply ·
  • -Mike H.
    Ehhh, rat fans... IT'S A FUCKING RAT !
    Reply ·
  • Mark
    Andy of Yarn, did you miss the last paragraph? "By the way, if you’re planning to leave a comment pouring scorn on those people who are regularly hit by bank charges, criticising them for failing to keep their finances in order, you might like to shut the fuck up – you’re completely missing the point." Lol!
    Reply ·
  • G R.
    Those RBS rats keep millions of us in homes every day and give us the means to buy cars, etc!! The horror!!
    Reply ·
  • andy y.
    RBS is now majority owned by us.For every £1 they refund about 82p will fall to the texpayer. The free current banking model was built around losing money on customers who ran their acpount properly and making miney or disorganised tossers/ Fundamentally I disagree with the OFT assertion taht profiting from toissers is unfair.If that makes me a pariah so be it. Oh yes I did see the last paragraph which to mje implies taht if I don't accept the OFT's point I,m not entitkled to an opinion.
    Reply ·
  • moneysavingexpert
    I agree with Andy Of Yarm. The handsome devil
    Reply ·
    • Andy D.
      @moneysavingexpert - Hmm, the IP address you've used suggests that you're on the same train as andy of yarm this morning.... ;-)
      Reply ·
  • Matt
    Haha, reversal of fortune for Andy of Yarn there. The point is that these charges in no way reflect the cost of the service that the bank provides to clear up the mistake.
    Reply ·
  • Elaine
    Damn, is this only for evil customers?? Will I still be getting charged being the nice kindly disorganised tosser/fucker that I am?? :-)
    Reply ·
  • Spencer
    While it is stupid to write cheques you cant cash and spend someone else's money, banks take the piss, plain and simple. I agree that banks should be allowed to recover there costs of sending a letter, but that, at the highest is going to be like, 50p. Instead, I would like to see banks change their terms and adopt a 3 strikes policy. You can go beyond your overdraft or bounce a cheque twice being warned each time, Then you will be sent a final warning notice and be pestered on the phone by an irate Indian woman. Do it again and you will then be subject to a very unreasonable and daily compound interest charge. That way, it encourages people to be responsible with their cash. Because bank charges will no longer act as a deterrent, it encourages folks to spend money they dont have and use banks as sources for costless interest free loans.
    Reply ·
  • Marty P.
    Andy of Yarm - I am in full agreement. It is no different to getting on a train with the 'wrong ticket' at the end of the day. If you havent got the correct one they make you buy an expensive one and sit next to the person who smugly knows they only paid 3 quid for a superdooperadvanceawaydaysavermebob ticket. Same dirty slow train/service for both passengers just an extra cost for the less organised/ criminally deviant fare dodger
    Reply ·
  • Sean
    @Marty That analogy is so full of wholes, as big as your mums anus, that it really is pointless even responding to it. The facts of the matter, is that the banks are screwing those less fortunate (its not just 'disorganised tossers' - it could be that somebody has lost their job, or been ill and their sick pay hasn't covered something), in favour of giving to the rich. To coin a phrase, they are 'Robin Hood in reverse'. They take from the poor, to give to the rich. That is not how society works. Thats how greedy selfish little facist pompous fucks who need to be buried alive work. PS none of that really means anything anyway in the big scheme of things, because at the end of the day what they're doing is unlawful, so your shitty facist opinions count for shit.
    Reply ·
  • Sean
    wholes / holes. :|
    Reply ·
  • Rick P.
    Yeah! Right on. Facist Peeeg!
    Reply ·
  • andy y.
    andrew dawson how dare you imply that I shill my own posts.I prefer to shit on my own posts.apologies for the 7 month delay in reply ,it was long shit
    Reply ·

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