Banking

Three of the country's best-paying current accounts will dramatically cut the interest and rewards they pay millions of customers early next year, MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal, as banks continue to slash headline rates on their top accounts.

A pioneering voice recognition security system introduced by First Direct is failing to recognise some account-holders, with a number of customers left furious after being wrongly locked out of their accounts.

The number of complaints lodged against banks and other financial services firms fell by 2.6% between January and June this year compared with the previous six months, according to figures from the financial watchdog – and complaints about current accounts dropped 10%.

Fraud procedures at Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland have been placed under review after a MoneySavingExpert.com investigation revealed lost and stolen contactless cards can be used by crooks months after they're cancelled – with some banks failing to spot dodgy payments.

Consumer group Which? has filed a ‘super-complaint’ with the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) demanding banks do more to help customers who've lost money after being tricked by con-men into making a bank transfer.

The plastic fiver enters circulation today with the Bank of England promising the new note will be a stronger and more secure upgrade on its paper predecessor.

Complaints about Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Bank of Scotland and Barclays made up almost half the total number of complaints lodged with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in the first half of 2016.

A report by the competition watchdog ordering monthly unarranged overdraft fees to be capped has been criticised by the Treasury Committee for not going far enough.

If you had a NatWest or RBS student current account between November 2002 and March this year and you haven't already been contacted about receiving a refund for wrongly charged interest, you can expect a letter detailing how much you're being refunded by 1 November.