Could this be the clearest indication yet that banks have admitted defeat in the long running bank charges saga? In a surprise move, the taxpayer-owned RBS-Natwest group has announced it will be slashing charges related to overdrafts – breaking ranks with the rest of the banking industry.

With a decision on whether the Office of Fair Trading can regulate charges levied by banks on overdrafts and direct debits due to be delivered anytime, the move could be seen as the bank’s attempt to pre-empt any judgement and from 1st October, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest customers will be charged only £5 for having a cheque bounced or direct debit returned unpaid; this is down from the current charge of £38. Meanwhile, the charge for paying an item on an overdrawn account falls from its current £30 to £15.

“This is obviously very welcome news and about time,” said Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group. “Hopefully this is a recognition of how unfair their pricing system has been.”

If the Office of Fair Trading is successful in its ongoing legal battle with eight High Street banks – including RBS-NatWest – then banks and building societies would have to pay out billions of pounds in bank charge repayments to settle the 1.2 million cases currently being held in the legal system.

However, the decision by RBS-Natwest could be a clear signal that the banks are preparing for the worst and the move is sure to be welcomed by customers of both banks.

What’s more, such a move could well see other banks follow suit and cut their own charges in order to retain their customer base.

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1. Tories label bank charges as unfair
2. Bank charges come back into legal spotlight following court ruling
3. Tories want bank charges compensation repaid ‘quickly and fairly’

Plans outlined by the party has revealed that one casualty of their proposed financial shakeup would be the Financial Services Authority (FSA) with their power being transferred to the Bank of England.

Under the Conservative’s proposals, the BoE would also have the power to regulate city pay structures, risk complexity and size of financial institutions; including requirements on those which put financial stability at risk to hold large amounts of capital to act as insurance to protect the taxpayer. Meanwhile, the Financial Services Authority would be amalgamated into a new consumer protection body.

Currently the UK financial system is controlled by a triumvirate involving the Bank of England, the FSA and the Treasury and it is this model which David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, believes is inadequate and failed to protect the country’s economy during the recession.

Launching the reform plans, Mr Cameron said: “The decisions that led to this crisis represent a policy failure of historic proportions. We now need deep, wide-ranging reform that matches both the magnitude of the crisis and the scale of the hardship inflicted on the British people.

“That reform must be based on a clear understanding of what went wrong in the first place and a clear determination to put it right.

“I’m afraid the government’s proposals that all we need are a few more tweaks and a little bureaucratic tinkering are totally inadequate and risk preventing a recovery,” he said.

Interesting times ahead in the city should the Tories sweep to power…

Related personalfinanosaurus posts:

1. Tories want bank charges compensation repaid ‘quickly and fairly’
2. Tories label bank charges as unfair

The case, which is currently undergoing discussion in the House of Lords could cost British banks billions of pounds should the Lords rule against them and Mr Cameron is believed to be considering a plan to introduce automatic payback of charges should the Tories win the general election. The Tory leader has already instructed the shadow Chancellor George Osborne to investigate the possibility of automatic compensation which would do away with the need for consumers having to raise a claim.

In an email sent in response to Martin Lewis of website MoneySavingExpert.com, Mr Cameron said:

“Once the legal issues have been resolved I agree with you that bank customers must be compensated quickly and fairly for any unfair charges that they have had to pay. So I’ve asked my Shadow Treasury Team to look at your suggestion that banks should pay money back automatically if the courts do rule that the charges are unfair.”

The full wording of Mr Cameron’s response can be found here.

The Tories’ promise could see the amount of compensation being paid back by banks far surpass the original figures claims Mr Lewis. Should automatic compensation occur, the banks could be forced to pay back as much as £10billion or even more; whereas if consumers were to continue to claim against their banks, the likely payout would be much less – perhaps £2-3billion.

The Lords’ verdict is expected sometime in Autumn.

Related personalfinanosaurus posts:

1. Tories label bank charges as unfair
2. Bank charges verdict to be delivered next Wednesday
3. Great news for consumers on unfair bank charges

Better known for their mobile phones, Finnish telecoms giant Nokia is branching out – into the world of financial services.

In March this year, Nokia sank $70million into mobile payment specialist Obopay and Nokia will now be working alongside the company to develop services which will enable consumers to send and receive money via mobile phone as well as pay merchants for goods and services and pay bills.

The service will be called Nokia Money and is believed to be targeting emerging markets where banking services may not be readily available.

In a news item on telecoms.com, Mary McDowell, Nokia’s chief development officer is quoted as saing: “We believe mobile financial services offer a market opportunity with long term growth potential … In many countries, mobile phone ownership significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile phone users have very limited or no access to basic financial services. Global demand for access to financial services presents a strong opportunity to combine mobile devices with simple but powerful financial services.”

With mobile phones outnumbering bank accounts by almost 3-to-1 worldwide, there is a potential market for the provision and use of basic financial services via telecoms, and Nokia are also looking to create a network of approved Nokia Money agents where users of the service can deposit and withdraw cash from their accounts.

Nokia are expected to debut the service at next week’s Nokia World with deployment of the service scheduled to take place in 2010.

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One of my many duties as a personalfinanosaurus is to write articles which I distribute on the internet. I was posting an article on Article Hub, when I came across this article:

The story of a single man

So it might have been a cunning ploy to wind up over-sensitive females (with male alter-ego dinosaur personalities) like myself, but still, there could be a reason why Jack Crow was single for such a long time.

With quotes such as:

a female rarely says directly what she wants. Instead, she will use reverse psychology by asking the male a series of questions until she gets the desired answer. If she does not get the desired answer she will take the huffs and give the male ‘the cold shoulder treatment’. She thinks this will alert the male that something is wrong and he will do what she wants.with out actually telling him

and

This all stems back to the fact that a female thinks with her emotions, not logic. This is why a male cannot understand a females rational. Males cannot read between the lines. They are not psychic or clairvoyant and they need everything spelled out to them in black and white.

Males often also complain that females are moody, have mood swings and show irrational or erratic behavior. This is especially apparent in times of stress, emergencies or significant events where body chemicals and emotions are highly stimulated.

Because a females behavior is affected by her emotions and her emotions are affected by her body chemistry and her body chemistry is in a state of flux from one month to the next, it can only be expected that a female would exhibit erratic behavior that is a mystery to a man whose body does not go through a constant monthly cycle of change. Re-read that last paragraph guys if it went over your head.

Mr Crow is obviously entirely stupid himself or he’s dating stupid women.

As a woman who isn’t single – I would argue that a man who really knows what he’s talking about when it comes to women – is out there doing it – not fantasing in their own mono-blog

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