Bank charges ‘unfair, arbitrary and disproportionate’

In a reiteration of its stance on the issue, Which? has said that bank charges should not only be fair but should reflect the true administration costs.

The consumer group, which calculated that bank customers pay £4.7 billion each year in default charges, has issued a so-called Anti-Social Banking Order on current account providers because of the way they treat customers who have unauthorised overdrafts.

Personal finance campaigner for the organisation, Emma Bandey, said that bank charges “should not be, as they seem to be now, an arbitrary figure picked to make the most money out of unsuspecting customers”.

She added: “The legal position is clear; default charges for bank accounts cannot be disproportionate to the cost of administrating the charge.”

Last year, Ian Mullen, head of the British Bankers’ Association told BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme that banks were not charging customers more than the real costs involved.