With a recent raft of changes to Lloyds TSB, Bank of Scotland, NatWest and RBS current accounts, could yours be about to change too?
There seems to have been a lot going on in the world of banking recently. Barclays has announced changes to its approach to personal banking, making it more appealing for customers to pay for their currents accounts.
Marks & Spencer plans to open 50 new branches across the UK over the next two years, while NatWest, Barclays and RBS have introduced new ways to pay with smartphone apps.
Here’s a closer look at some of those changes and whether similar changes could be coming your way.
Overdraft charges
From October 2 onwards, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB will increase interest and fee-free amounts on planned overdrafts across their entire range of current accounts. If you bank with either Lloyds or Bank of Scotland this means you could avoid charges for dipping into your planned overdraft.
Eligible customers could benefit from the introduction of an interest and fee-free planned overdraft of £25 on the Classic account (with no monthly fee) and £50 on the Silver account. The increased interest and fee-free planned overdraft on the Gold account has gone up to £150 from £100 and up to £300 from £250 on the Platinum account.
From the same date, Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland will also raise overdraft interest rates and monthly overdraft usage fee across their range of free and paid-for current accounts for customers who go over their interest and fee-free facilities.
Bank of Scotland will also raise the monthly fee on its Silver and Gold Value Added accounts while adding improved travel insurance cover to include travel disruption cover, and improved Sentinel Card Protection Cover.
Card-less withdrawals
RBS and NatWest have updated their mobile banking app to allow its customers to withdraw money from a cash machine without using their debit cards. The app is currently used by around 2.5million customers.
Using the GetCash service, app users will make a request for cash and receive a six-digit code which they will then enter at the ATM in return for their cash. The app is only compatible with NatWest and RBS cash machines at the moment and can be used as many times a day as the customer wants, up to a limit of £100.
Pay as you bank
There’s been a lot of discussion about free banking of late, and Barclays has actually announced some changes to its packaged current accounts.
Barclays has replaced all its packaged accounts with a single one which can be customised with optional add-ons called ‘packs’.
Online users can simply drag and drop the packs they want to add to their account, but some packs, such as the Travel Pack which includes RAC roadside and home assistance, European family travel insurance and card protection will cost you £8.50 per month.
Unhappy with changes?
If your current account is changing and you’re not happy, or if you want to take advantage of some of the newly announced features above by switching, online comparison sites like MoneySupermarket let you compare your existing account against a range of others.
If you are going to switch, make sure you check the terms and conditions of the account carefully and don’t just be lured in by switching incentive