Bank charges are unfair, and the FSA waiver on reclaiming them is just as unfair in my opinion. And as of 21st July, they extended it for another f***ing six months.
What annoys me is the fact that the FSA waiver is in place to protect consumers. I don’t feel protected at all - I feel annoyed that I can’t get my bank charges back right now. I feel totally fobbed off by the bank - I feel like they’re laughing at me while they still charge me anywhere between £25-50 each time I do anything slightly out of step, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it, thanks to the FSA.
What’s more, if the OFT eventually decide that the charges are fair - I’m never going to get my money back! At the end of the day, I think pretty much every consumer will agree that it does not cost the back £25 each time you go over your overdraft to send out a letter or something. This is the breakdown of cost to send a really posh nice letter (which none of the banks do…):
- A4 100gsm Paper - £0.01398
- Black Laser Toner - £0.011598
- Nice envelope - £0.03498
- 1st Class Stamp - £0.36
- Labour (£6/hr at 10 minutes at most) - £0.60
- Total Cost of Sending a Letter: £1.020558
I’ve worked out the cost of supplies from Viking Direct / Royal Mail, and the labour was based on an absolute moron using a computer to fill out a template and put a letter in an envelope, stamp it, and put it in a mail chute. The banks don’t lose anything else by letting you go over your overdraft limit. In fact, they always gain because they get interest on it anyway.
So basically, I don’t mind £1 being taken from my account each time they have to send out a letter, but £25-50 is ridiculous. And thanks to the bloody FSA’s waiver to “protect” consumers, I’m losing out now, and banks are still making a shed load of money out of charging customers stupid amounts.
Thanks a bloody lot FSA.
