OVERDRAFTS.
Britain's banking giants are crippling their customers with overdraft charges which are ‘virtually impossible for an ordinary person to work out’, a damning report warns today.
The study, from consumer champion Which?, said ‘myriad complicated charges’, confusing use of terminology and lack of transparency leave people feeling ‘bamboozled'.
It asked 18 volunteers to examine the unauthorised overdraft charges of the country’s 12 biggest banks, a team described by Which? as ‘no mugs’.
One of them - a tax inspector - got only one in four of his calculations correct, while a former headmaster got all of his ones wrong.
Of the 72 calculations done by the volunteers, just ten were correct.
They even struggled to find the unauthorised overdraft charges on the bank’s websites, typically taking ten minutes to find the information but sometimes taking more than 30 minutes.
One volunteer spent ‘20 fruitless minutes’ trying to find the information before asking a worker at the bank for help, who took another 20 minutes to find the answer.
And one said: ‘There were lots of factors to consider. If x happens then y will come into force but only if z happens on the third day of the month or before etc. Absolutely confusing.’
Another volunteer said: ‘There is no way the average customer who hasn’t got all the time in the world on his or her hands can compare these charges and confidently know which product is best for them.’
Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: ‘Consumers are faced with myriad complicated charges for using an unauthorised overdraft.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2540953/Bank-overdraft-fees-leave-bamboozled.html#ixzz2qeKKCKiu
If you need debt advice visit www.consumerkings.co.uk
HAIR TODAY
Retail
Company American Apparel has stirred up controversy by giving its shop
mannequins pubic hair. It’s such a controversy that George W.Bush has even
gotten involved. The fact that the mannequins pubic hair is a bit unkempt is being
seen by some as frankly disgusting and by feminists as a confirmation that they’ve
been right all along by never ever going anywhere near any salon that specialises
in keeping such areas tidy, or anywhere near the business end of a Gillette
Lady Shave.
If
American Apparel plan was to drum up publicity (which it was) it’s worked
brilliantly. Much in the same way controversy drummed up publicity worth
billions for Benetton with their United Colours of Benetton campaign.
AA
says that pubic hair is perfectly natural as we all have it. This is completely
true, but not everyone who has pubic hair wants to look like they’ve put their
pants on over a sporran.
SKINT
Oil
giant Royal Dutch Shell has issued a profit warning after it made less money
than expected in the last quarter of 2013. Their devastated chairman said “ We
only made £1.3b and that’s such a small profit that we are thinking of moving
into the UK domestic gas and electricity supply market. Things are now so bad
that we’ve had to take caviar and truffles off the staff canteen menu”.
Royal
Dutch Shell still made £11b profit from the year as a whole, but not from oil
sales, 97% of their profit was made from the high mark up on the Ginster’s
Pastys they sell in the petrol stations.
It’s
their shareholders I feel sorry for because shares fell by 4% when the news of
the tiny wee only £1.3b profit broke. This is effect means that many of the
shareholders will have to forego travelling by private jets and will have to
make do with travelling first class on regular airlines.
The
question is: should people who have no idea just how much £1.3b is be allowed
to run a company. It’s a fortune, an absolute fortune. Not that they seem to be
aware of this fact. If you asked them “Do you know just how much money £1.3b is”
they’d reply “No not really, we’re not very good with money, is it a lot?”.
No
it’s not a lot if you are a UK domestic gas and electricity supplier, but it’s
a huge amount of money if you are on benefits.
RADIOACTIVE
The
BBC has obtained details of the Ministry of Defence’s options for dealing with
radioactive materials in Dalgetty Bay in Fife in Scotland. One of the options
is to put up a fence and have signs reading “Probably best for kids not to
build sandcastles here”.
The
MOD insists that the radiation isn’t that bad; in fact their spokesman said “Actually
I think it’s quite nice the way the beach glows brightly in the dark”. He added
“and you could count the rads emitting from the waste on the fingers of one
hand, that’s my hand, not the hands of the locals who thanks to the rads have
37 fingers on each hand”.
He
was asked how long it would take to clear the beach and he replied that the MOD
doesn’t have crystal balls. Also adding “Unlike the men who live within a mile
of the contaminated area”.
