First I've heard of this, but very useful to know. Thanks for sharing, gillianr2 - you have my sympathies as it does sound like a total pain.

Yeah I *think* clydesdale are doing the same with their readycash account too. Apparently the banks can't afford the charges for us lifting money out of other atm's as they make no money on our accounts!!

Oh and Lloyds have done it aswell, moneysavingexpert as some articles on it.

This was mentioned on the news a couple of days ago too. Unfortunately another symptom of the state of banking at present.

This is something RBS/Natwest started in October, it's not just ATM's, I was left stranded without petrol when my card was refused at the automated petrol pumps of an unmanned petrol station. It because the banks don't make enough money from basic account customers.

Oh No alpha, I just assumed the debit card part could still be used anywhere! My card is natwest and has never worked on the automated pumps at petrol stations though, no idea why.

It was on that rip off britain this morning!!

They said to find somewhere(shop,pub etc) that does cashback as its free,and also pointed out that some card providers allow you to withdraw funds FREE from the post office so check with your bank to see if this is the case.

They also pointed out that free withdrawal cash machines in more deprived areas where people are more likely to have basic banks account are vanishing fast!! 2 poorer areas of Liverpool,Anfield and Toxteth had no free cash machines and the nearest were 20 minutes brisk walk away!!!

So the poorer have to pay more to get their banking and cash,that seems like we are being shafted to me.

Paul

I have moved to a Think Banking account.
As far as I am aware there is no issues like that with this account.

It is subsidiary of RBS and i got an account with them no problem despite owing CC an OD to RBS itself.

There is a £15 per month management fee on this account.
They basically manage your money for you for that fee though, by setting aside your monthly outgoing DD's in one account and what is left for day to day living in another.

What is also handy is they text you when your salary is paid in and balance and tranaction updates by text any time you like.

I know £15 is not an insignificant sum when you find yourself in a Trust Deed, but even though it is early days, just a month into my TD, I am happy to pay this for what I get from it.

Thanks for that, i'v e never heard of a think account before so will have a look in to that! Thanks again.

I dont thik anyone can justify paying out over £500 in banking fees over the 36 month life of a trust deed,theres plenty other things I could blow £15 a month on.

But the choice is yours,Jinty have you an allowance for this?

Paul

I agree that £15 per month seems a lot, not least when other free accounts are available. I doubt creditors would see this as a fair type of "expenditure" when free accounts exist.

This story has been rumbling on for a while and seems like a senseless way for the banks to further reduce their already terrible public perception.

How much does it cost them each time you use a rivals ATM? Apparently it's 24p:

(Blog now removed from website)

I can see that the banks would have the cost of maintaining and refilling the ATMs. It seems like one of those exercises tho where the benefit of quantifying the cost is less than the expense incurred in arriving at the sum-if that makes any sense. If all the banks are charging each other there's bound to be a degree of cancellation too. Let's bear in mind that for those of us who can remember times before ATMs, it was only possible to collect cash in banking hours at a branch so ATMs hugely improved the convenience of managing 9and spending)our cash. Balanced with that is the fact that the staffing cost for banks was HUGELY reduced, to the point where I stood in queues inside a branch only to be told on reaching the counter, 'you need to take your cash out from the machine' even when lifting cash was only one of a few transactions I needed to carry out.