RBS decreases overdraft fees

Commenting on RBS decreasing its overdraft fees, Ian Williams, director of communications at moneysupermarket.com said: "Although any reduction in fees is good news for consumers, RBS customers will still be subjected to high unauthorised overdraft fees and rates - up to £15 a day. Most of the major banks have made changes to their unauthorised overdraft fees over the past 12 months, which suggests they are struggling to prove these fees are fair. The banks have always argued that their charges reflect the costs associated with managing unauthorised borrowing. If this is the case, I would question how they have been able to reduce their costs so significantly?

"When we consider that moneysupermarket.com research shows over half of the UK workforce was overdrawn at least once in the past 12 months, and 17 per cent were continually overdrawn, we can see that a significant proportion of RBS customers could easily rack up a steep bill if they have to regularly pay the daily unauthorised overdraft fee at £15 a pop.

"Our advice is to avoid unauthorised overdrafts whenever possible - for most people this means a simple call to their bank. If you do continually go into the red then consider switching to a more competitive current account, such as one from Alliance & Leicester, which has a zero per cent interest rate for 12 months and will only charge 50 pence per day, maximum £5 per month thereafter on authorised borrowing."