Banks Are Keeping The Debt Bubble Alive

PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 21, 2006 – The ability to reclaim penalty charges with the help of free sites like www.consumercorner.co.uk has helped thousands of consumers take back control of their finances by using the money to clear debts that would have otherwise crippled them financially and indeed in many cases these charges were the main cause of their debts. So finally consumers are regaining their lives and crawling back out of the debt trap.

Bank charges have been crippling consumers for years, some claims have been over £14,000

But the banks intend putting a stop to all that as their response to this barrage of claims is to up the interest rates on credit cards, and to attempt to end so called FREE banking by implementing a monthly charge. First Direct are the first to jump in feet first and test the water by charging a monthly fee of £10

Yet HSBC who is the parent company of First Direct announced profits of a staggering £6.7 billion in the first half of this year that’s up by 18per cent

Q. Who is the fee aimed at?
A. The fee will apply to those paying less than £1,500 into their account each month or those who have an average monthly balance below £1,500. "I want to focus our efforts on our most important customers: those who use us as their main bank or who have a number of products with us," said Chris Pilling, First Direct's chief executive. The fee will be waived if customers open a savings account or buy products such as home insurance or loans. So once again it’s the less well of that are going to subsidise, the higher earners.

If all banks start charging monthly fees or even annual fees, then where will that leave pensioners and people who are on benefits. Seeing as how the government is pushing everyone into having bank accounts to receive their payments.

So the government say you need x amount to live on then insist it is paid into a bank account which you are then charged for. How can they justify the banks taking part of what the law states you need to survive, surely the amount of benefits will have to increase, as the cost of living will have just risen. You can bet your life benefits won’t go up though.