First Direct to charge customers for being broke.
Matthew:
November 17th, 2006
Ever since the FSA cracked down on banks charging credit card and overdraft fees, the finance industry has been waiting to see how banks will try to compensate for these lost profits.
In the first (and hopefully last) of these moves, HSBC’s online banking firm First Direct are introducing a £10 maintenance fee for accounts which have an average balance under £1500. This makes them the first major bank in the UK to abandon free current accounts, and sets a unwelcome precedent for consumers. Many banks incentivise people to pay their salaries into their current accounts (such as Halifax who pay an interest rate of 5.12% on monthly deposits over £1000), but HSBC are the first to actually penalise their customers for having a low balance. Hopefully its customers will relocate their account to a less discrimanatory bank, and leave HSBC with egg on its greedy face.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Credit cards have became an integral part of middle-class life, traffic fatalities increase harshly. Credit cards are becoming more dangerous. Eventually, cards don’t kill, but they threaten people in other ways. For families with medium incomes, that $40 fee may be just an annoyance. For families on the edge, a cascade of penalties and fees can mean financial ruin. In the UK there is a clear interrelation between improvement credit card use and raising rates of bankruptcy.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Since credit cards became an integral part of middle-class life, individal failures has increased harshly. Credit cards are becoming more dangerous. Eventually, cards don’t kill, but they threaten people in other ways. For families with medium incomes, that $40 fee may be just an annoyance. For families on the edge, a cascade of penalties and fees can mean financial ruin. In the UK there is a clear interrelation between improvement credit card use and raising rates of bankruptcy.