bl00dy LLoyds TSB

[bednobs]

had a letter from them this morning, saying that they were
a) going to stop paying interest on my current account (ok, so i can deal with that as it's only about 5p per month anyway) and
b) going to charge me £5 every month i use my arranged overdraft plus increasing the interest rate on it (ok, so i hardly ever use it anyway, and i could avoid the charges completely if i never use it)
But together,t hese two things have really really annoyed me. I hate lloyds anyway, but have never moved from them because i have a fear it looks suspicious if you change your bank account, and at the mo i can truthfully say ive been with them 30 years.
Anyway, this has given me the push i need to look around, but i wanted to know some things
1) do other banks current accounts make these charges?
2) do you reckon they all will in the near future anyway?
3) is there any disadvantage to changing your current account provider?
ps i realise that in most other countries you have to pay to have a bank account and i should think myself lucky, and i also realise that if i didn't use the oberdraft i wouldn't have a problem anyway
Ta

[ummmm]

1) Nationwide doesn't
2) Doubt it
3) Not that I know of.

You could still keep the Lloyds one open and open another one.

[biggerlonger]

they have received 25,000 complaints in the last 3 months

[bednobs]

i have my joint account, mortgage, savings account and insurance with santander, so i may as well have the current with them too i reckon

[chelle7272]

Agree with ummmm's answers. I'm with Abbey, Santander now, and they don't charge

[237SJ]

I`ve got a credit card with Santander. I don`t think their customer service is very good.

[bednobs]

biggerlonger - do you mean lloyds?

[factorfiction]

I think vibra does mean lloyds, although most banks seem to get regular complaints (some justified, some not). There's no harm in switching (and keeping Lloyds open just in case)- some offer £100 for switching.

[R1Geezer]

This is what I do, my salary is paid into a Cahoot account , I have all my DD's etc with LLoyds. Each month I transfer enough to pay them all from Cahoot. I never go overdrawn and LLyods do all the work and I haven't paid them a penny for years. This also has the advantage of knowing that I can have another current account that contains what I can spend. This is the way to punish banks, make them do work for nothing.

[boxtops]

I've had that letter too, bednobs, and I am going to ring my bank manager to get some clarification. I've got a guaranteed overdraft which I do use, and there is a section in there about direct debits which might not be in funds - I want to make sure they mean that the funds include the guaranteed overdraft, otherwise I will be stuffed each month in bank charges. I've been with Lloyds 42 years, they charge me £10 a month for the benefit of having a Classic account, and the only reason I stay with them is the size of the overdraft they'll allow me - which at the moment, I need.