Business

New bank charges have been announced by RBS and NatWest as part of an overhaul on how customers are charged on unauthorised overdrafts.

Although the subject of credit card charges and other bank charges have been the subject of major court cases recently, customers will still be charged £6 a day for unplanned overdrafts of more than £6.

This could lead to some customers who cannot pay the fees having to pay even more to bring their accounts out of the red.

However despite this, the interest on overdrafts will be scrapped when these new bank charges are introduced in February.

The changes to the fees imposed on unplanned overdrafts have been proposed after pressure from customers who are said to have wanted a more simple and accessible system.

Speaking to the BBC, Susie Wands, head of RBS overdrafts explained the decision behind making the changes.

She said:  “We asked our customers about products and charges and they told us they wanted them to be simply and easy to understand.”

As a result the £6 charge will now include the paid referral fee, guaranteed card payment fee and the maintenance charge.

The fees for cheques or direct debits that bounce will also be revised. This will go up to £6 a day with a potential maximum amount of £60 being charged to the bank customer. Previously it had been £5 a day and a maximum of £38.
These changes will not affect all RBS and NatWest customers however as graduates, students and those with an arranged overdraft facility will not have to pay the charges.
In addition to revised fees, RBS has also announced it will contact customers by email or by text message in order to warn them if they account is about to go overdrawn. This could help some people avoid incurring unexpected fees.