Banking

Some 36,000 RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers will be refunded a total of £2.2 million after the banks failed to set up the correct alerts warning them about unarranged overdraft charges.

One in seven UK mortgages is now subject to a payment holiday, after 1.6 million mortgage breaks were offered to customers who have been impacted by Covid-19.

Vulnerable Post Office customers who need to shield during the coronavirus pandemic can now have cash payments delivered straight to their homes as part of a new scheme.

A total of 130,000 Metro Bank customers will receive average payments of about £86, after the bank failed to warn them properly about unarranged overdraft charges.

The financial regulator has confirmed that banks should offer a temporary payment freeze on credit cards and loans for three months and offer interest-free overdrafts of up to £500 on current accounts, in a set of new rules introduced to combat the effects of coronavirus on people's finances.

Nationwide is to cut the interest on its popular FlexDirect current account, in yet another blow to current account perks.

The financial regulator is set to order banks to take new steps to help customers hit financially by the coronavirus pandemic, offering interest-free overdrafts of up to £500 and allowing payment holidays on credit and store cards, loans and catalogue debt.

Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland will give customers a £300 interest-free overdraft buffer for three months from Monday 6 April in a bid to help those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, while Barclays is to waive all interest on overdrafts from Friday 27 March to 30 April 2020.

HSBC is to increase the interest-free overdraft buffer on its main current accounts to £300 next week in a bid to help customers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bank of England has slashed the base rate for the second time in just over a week in a further emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic, reducing it from 0.25% to 0.1%.