Reclaiming bank charges..have you done it?

the latest on this is that becuase more and more people are cottoning onto getting refunds this way, 'free personal banking' may become a thing of the past as the banks want to start charging - basically the same system as in the US! and most other countries in the world. The UK is one of only a handful that has free personal banking and even then it was only introduced within the last 20-25 years or so.

I heard a while back that the 'transfer your balance and get 0% for 6 months' thing on credit cards may be phased out too - I've never needed to do it myself, but i know ALOT of people who have! I'm split on opinion, whilst it's good to have the option, i'm more in the favour of people being made to look at thier finances more closely and not get into so much debt in the first place.

But seeing as the UK's 'borrowing culture' is so ingrained, it'll take a good few generations to change!

Cheers! DtM! west London UK!

Those b*stards always try to pull a fast one on the little guy.

the latest on this is that becuase more and more people are cottoning onto getting refunds this way, 'free personal banking' may become a thing of the past as the banks want to start charging - basically the same system as in the US! and most other countries in the world. The UK is one of only a handful that has free personal banking and even then it was only introduced within the last 20-25 years or so. 

The banks are there to make as much money as they can, and as much as they can get away with, full stop.

I heard a while back that the 'transfer your balance and get 0% for 6 months' thing on credit cards may be phased out too - I've never needed to do it myself, but i know ALOT of people who have! I'm split on opinion, whilst it's good to have the option, i'm more in the favour of people being made to look at thier finances more closely and not get into so much debt in the first place.

But seeing as the UK's 'borrowing culture' is so ingrained, it'll take a good few generations to change! 

The thing with transfers & many consolidation loans - people don't use them as a launching point to get themselves out of debt.  They transfer or consolidate, and then continue on charging up the card that they just paid off (plus having the new card or consolidation loan to pay).  Smaller problems grow into bigger problems from there.