From December 6^th 2009, around one million customers with the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland could see large increases in fees for overdrafts as the bank tries to claw back more money from consumers.

Under the new charges those account holders that have an authorised overdraft will have to pay up to £31 per month on overdrafts under £2,500, and a £2 per day charge on authorised overdrafts above £2,500. If the overdraft is unauthorised then the fee will be £5 per day, around £150 per month.

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

Halifax claim that the move is part of its plan to bring in overdraft charges on all of its current accounts, except its student account, in line with its Reward Current Account, which was launched in February.

Alliance & Leicester recently introduced a similar charging structure, charging customers 50p per day for authorised overdrafts, capped, at £5 per month, some £25 cheaper than HBOS proposals.

DebtWizard comment

Halifax is certainly not ‘giving that little bit extra’ , quite the opposite in fact.

In some instances this increase in fees for certain customers could be as high as 300%, at a time when we are waiting for the outcome of the test case regarding overdraft charges.

The need for these increases is difficult to comprehend when all we hear about in the media is bankers giving themselves massive six figure bonuses, part funded by bank charges from honest hard working consumers that have felt the need for an overdraft to help ends meet.

Consumers need to switch and ditch those banks that are devious in their business methods. See our article on this below.

You have until 6th December 2009 to do this so act now and go to a bank that offers a better deal.

Bank accounts to be made clearer and easier to switch

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