Pathetic.

Just look at this........

Halifax to charge 31 a month for overdrafts

Alan O'Sullivan, This is Money
21 October 2009

Reader comments (9)

Customers of Halifax and Bank of Scotland with overdrafts will see dramatically higher fees on their borrowing from December.

Bane or benefit? The new charges will hurt some customers and help others.

The bank is to introduce a new daily charge of 1 for overdrafts on all its accounts in December instead of overdraft interest and bank charges.
This will cost up to 31 per month on overdrafts under 2,500, and a 2 per day charge will double the cost on overdrafts above 2,500.

A month spent 100 in the red would previously have cost a customer 1.63, it will now cost up to 31.

Halifax says the aim is to simplify its overdraft charging structure. Those in the red currently pay between 19.5% for an arranged overdraft, rising to 28.8% for an unarranged unauthorised overdraft.


There is a monthly unauthorised overdraft fee of 28, with a 35 charge each time a customer spends over their limit.

The new charges are 1 a day for having an arranged overdraft up to 2,500, 2 a day for arranged amounts over this and 5 a day for unarranged overdrafts.

Although those with large overdraft balances may benefit, this will seriously penalise customers with relatively small overdrafts who stay within their limit.

The charges could lead to an annual interest rate of several hundred percent for some customers.

For example, a customer who maintains a constant overdraft balance of minus 2,500 on the bank's standard current account for a year would have previously paid 487 in interest; in the year to December 2010, they would pay 365.

However, those with a constant minus 100 balance would currently pay 19.50, but will now pay 365 in future.

Alliance & Leicester introduced a similar charging structure a year ago, charging 50p per day for arranged overdrafts. However, this is capped at 5 per month, which makes it far cheaper than the approximately 30 charged by HBOS.

Dominic Lindley, Which? personal finance campaigner, said: 'This is bad news for any Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers who regularly use their overdraft as it's effectively a big hike in charges.

'Anyone who's unhappy with the new charging structure should vote with their feet by shopping around and switching to a current account that best suits their needs.'

Readers on This is Money have reacted with anger to the letters being posted out by HBOS to their customers this month.

Peter Robertson from Edinburgh said: 'They claim this is in response to customers wanting clarity on charges, which is good, but an increase in fees of 300% is verging on criminal given that we know that the extra cash will go to fund unjustifiable bonuses.

'There was no warning of this, giving little time to pay off any outstanding sum. I am on a fixed income and their timing - approaching Christmas - is about to cause serious financial hardship.'

Another reader said: 'This is treating all customers as stupid. The only reason they are changing [their charges] is to increase their fees and to reduce the amount of overdrafts. I currently pay a minimal amount per month as there is a largish credit balance on my account for two weeks and then a small overdraft for two weeks. How can this be justified and why do they not tell the truth?'

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/home/frame-money.html

.............ENDS

Im taking my hook from this outfit. Remember they only had 90 minutes at one time to fend off administration.

Then took my taxes and will pay big bonuses.