Brits ‘would pay for fair banking’

A new study from MoneyExpert suggests that the level of public unease about charges being levied against bank account users means 13.8 million Brits would pay around £7 each month to avoid them.

The research comes in the wake of an announcement from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that it is to investigate bank charging practices and in light of the continuing rise in debt management problems across the UK.

Commenting on the issue, Sean Gardner chief executive of MoneyExpert, said: “Paid-for banking has been around for a long time and is already a popular ‘added-value’ service for millions of customers.

“So to extend that to everyone without bringing to the table extra services or better prices is not going to be a popular move.”

The OFT disappointed many of those people facing debt management issues by announcing that its investigation into banking fees would not be completed until late 2007.