OT: dumping a landline

Says the man who got penalised for an unauthorised overdraft.

Fuck em. The terms of the agreement are clearly displayed. They agreed=20 to keep their account in good standing or pay the charges when they=20 signed up.

Depends on the bank. A&L charge 50p per day up to =A35 a month. That=20 makes it 60% or higher if you're constantly overdrawn. If you remain=20 overdrawn by =A31 for a year, it's the equivalent of 5000%.

So it's likely to get used at some point then? I never make such=20 mistakes.

A better safeguard would be to only spend what you have.

--=20 Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't=20 looking good either. - Scott Adams

I guess you don't know how to find a current account with a decent rate=20 then. The Halifax and BoS Reward account pays =A35 a month (after tax)=20 for every month you put =A31000 into the account. Keep the balance at an=20 average of =A3500 and it's the equivalent of 15% AER and even keeping the= =20 balance average at =A31500 is the equivalent of 5% AER, all higher than=20 most ISAs, bonds and fixed term savings accounts pay.

A&L Premier Direct and Abbey Preferred In Credit accounts both pay 5%=20 on balances up to =A32500 in the first year.

--=20 Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't=20 looking good either. - Scott Adams

Um, I didn't. Which bit of "They refunded it" didn't you understand?

The agreement to pay the charges doesn't mean the charges are reasonable.

You're really not grasping the odds thing here. The chance of it happening exists, but is very small. Since it costs me nothing to set up the overdraft facility, why not?

Speaks a bankrupt. You might have changed your ways since that experience - I never had to change them in the first place.

Please carry on trying to lecture me about how to handle money - it's quite amusing. Or you could consider what you know about my financial situation, which is close to bugger all, and realise that that's an extremely poor basis on which to try and claim the high ground.

You were charged it. You were only refunded "at the discretion" of the manager.

Irrelevent. There are a lot of things you pay which aren't reasonable (council tax, road tax, fuel duty).

I am. I have never had bank charges, you have and maintain your account at such a low level that you feel having an overdraft facility is a good idea. The odds of you getting them again being higher than me.

No, you just carry on in a mountain of debt.

I can quite easily find out given your name and address. Costs me nothing.

And keep the balance average at £15000 it's the equivalent of 0.5% AER. Ok, that fiver a month might be nice but ultimately it doesn't get larger the more money you put in, so it's not directly comparable to interest rates in other savings accounts (which are s**te at the moment).

And how much after that first year? Close to f*ck all is my bet.

Anyone who keeps =A315k in a current account is a loon.

Indeed. Which is why you change to the next best deal. When I signed up=20 to A&L to take advantage of the deal of the time, part way through the=20 conversation the person signing me up said "I expect you'll be moving=20 accounts again in a years time then" and they weren't wrong.

Anyone who displays loyalty to financial institutions, insurance=20 companies and service providers is either a mug, has no choice or has=20 so much money they don't really care.

--=20 Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't=20 looking good either. - Scott Adams

True. I was just making a point that any AER equivalent you can quote is meaningless.

Sipgate is your friend.

When did "free" banking end?

I have the Orange unlimited bundle attached to my BB tariff. So far not used more than a gig in a month on it but I would hate to have 3g as my main source of internet access.

I have a fee paying account, but the RAC cover and travel insurance more than covers the cost of the account and the legal helpline has come in very handy more than once.

It's not. My ADSL can stay connected for over 100 days, the most I've had on

3G was a couple of weeks ago at the top of a hill in halifax where I made a 1.5 hr skype video call from my laptop.

It is likely to end if the judgement goes against them.

It's a competitive market, all that'll end will be free credit, and maybe free cheques. They still make money on credit balances and have pushed everyone into electronic transactions.

only for some interactive stuff which i never use like the games and buying lotto tickets and shit like that oh and box office

I think that's pushing credulity a bit, given your ISP.

Paying in and withdrawls over the counter will no longer be free. In short, it'll end up with personal accounts having the same charge structure as business ones.

It's free to pay into my business account, it's free to withdraw money, there are no standing charges.

Try again.

Probably find that former bankrupts get stuck on different charge scales based on a risk assessment.