And so it begins

[rootsnall]

I can never work out how the Aussie banks get away with their charges, gets worse everytime I go over there. The banks here all have a go at the monthly fee thing now and then in return for useless travel insurance or the like but just fire them off. You've just motivated me to get round to ditching RBS !

[hyperD]

Agree. Drop Lloyds - dreadful uncompetitive bank. If you travel a lot then go Nationwide: no charges on foreign ATM transactions. Alliance & Leicester have a good 5% interest rate.

Also if you get a mortgage from Lloyds or Barclays because, from your parents, they are "established foundations of honesty and integrity" then please shoot yourself. They have the most uncompetitive rates ever imagined in the science of fleeting the uneducated.

[zeitghost]

How disappointing.

Not about Bab 5.

Zathras will be irritated.

[planetit]

Ditch them

Lloyds WWS have a pretty bad reputation. Only really useful for antipodeans in their first few months of life in the UK. Ditch them and get a proper bank account.

[Lucifer Box]

Vote with your feet, Insight and tell 'em to poke their £4 subscription fee where the sun don't shine. There are dozens of fee free current accounts out there. The Alliance & Leicester current account is looking particularly good at the moment - pays a whopping 5% interest and there's a £25 golden hello.

[insight14]

I had a letter arrive from Lloyds TSB Worldwide Service last night. Apparently my WWS Cheque account will be attracting a £4/month "subscription fee" from the 10th August. They go on to say that WWS account holders are now eligible for a whole bunch of discounts on hotels, holiday, books etc.

I have been impressed with the banks here so far, in that they have resisted the urge to cash in on customers in the way they have in Australia & NZ. For example, most Oz banks have a limit on the number of free withdrawals (4 per month usually), and you are charged for making any withdrawals from other bank's ATMs.

Is this the beginning of the route that banks have taken in other parts of the world? Or is this simply an attempt to marry commercial interests with banking (sort of like a loyalty card)?