Overdrafts

Fixed daily and monthly overdraft fees will be banned and replaced with a single interest rate from next April, the financial regulator has announced. 

Santander is paying out £1.4 million in refunds to 20,000 customers, after it failed to warn some of those who went into an unarranged overdraft about fees.

Nearly all customers with an overdraft at Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland will see their charges increase from next year – and some will pay more than £100 a year extra. 

Santander is to remove all unarranged overdraft fees on its current accounts that have monthly fees, including its popular 123 and 123 Lite accounts – though a small minority could be worse off under changes to its other accounts.

Borrowing by consumers on credit cards, loans and overdrafts is showing signs of slowing down, according to latest figures.

High street banks NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland have raised the daily fee charged to customers who go into an unarranged overdraft despite cutting the maximum monthly charge.

Millions of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers could benefit from a bank charge overhaul, meaning they won't pay if they go over their overdraft limit and there'll be no fees for missed payments – but two million could be worse off.

Anyone eager to vote in next month’s general election but not yet on the electoral roll must have registered before midnight on Monday.

Unarranged overdraft fees can cost bank customers up to seven and a half times more than borrowing from a payday loan company, new research shows. But there are steps you can take to avoid these sky-high charges.