One major current account provider has drawn ire from its customers after the announcement it will be doubling its overdraft fees, banking experts recently reported.
Spain-based personal and business bank account provider, Santander, has decided to hike its daily charge for going into the red on the majority of its current accounts to £1, up from 50p, and the decision comes at an inopportune time with consumers’ hackles already raised concerning extortionate charges. Just days prior to the announcement, consumer group Which? revealed that the complexities of overdraft fees were enough to drive maths PhD students to scratch their heads in confusion.
The Spanish banking giant is also facing lack of transparency accusations in the face of its neglecting to inform its new customers properly about its springtime fee hikes. Even now, critics say, Santander has yet to inform all of its five million customers who hold current accounts- twenty per cent of whom become overdrawn regularly.
Santander’s overdraft fee rates are, like a selection of High Street banks such as Halifax, charged daily. The Spanish bank will charge this daily fee as little as ten times in a given month to as many as twenty times, depending on which account a customer has, while any customer who exceeds their agreed limit without prior authorisation is subject to an additional £5 a day.
Santander’s old rate was 50p a day, which has now doubled. However, the bank’s main online marketing webpage has not been brought up to date, and neither has its primary list of charges, listed under the Interest Rates and Fees Information heading.