Let's face it: nobody likes admin. If we've got an account with one bank, and want to open a new one, we stick to the same bank. We probably shouldn't, a new report from the Financial Conduct Authority says.
What it means: The report looks into how personal current accounts work in the UK.
One thing they've pulled out is that customers could be getting 30% to 50% higher return on interest – that's the money you get from the bank as a 'thank you' for leaving it in the account – if they just shopped around a bit more to find the best deal rather than sticking with the bank they're already at.
The report also showed that 30% of the money banks make from personal current accounts comes from people going into their overdraft – and the majority of those cases are generally just 2% of customers, who are often vulnerable people.
The FCA isn't okay with this – they say it's exploitative for the bank to have a system that's set up to rely on vulnerable people not making their payments. They'll be coming out with some more recommendations on how to fix the situation soon.
