Is free banking under threat again?

As the UK banking arena moves out of recession and back into a growth phase there are growing concerns that so called "free banking" is again under threat. While in reality there is no such thing as "free banking" in the UK or anywhere around the world, whether this takes in direct charges or indirect charges, we are starting to see an increase in service charges and banking fees.

A number of areas of the UK banking arena have been under severe pressure during the recession and many banks need to replenish their funds and their profit margins. While a monthly charge of say two pounds might seem irrelevant to the average UK banking customer, if you multiply this across the whole banking customer base it adds up to hundreds of millions of pounds a year. This comes at a time when financial liquidity in the UK banking arena is well below average and customers are being forced to take on loans and credit cards with higher than average interest rates.

However, it is vital that we all shop around for the best deals rather than funnelling all of our business through long-standing banking arrangements which may not always offer the best deals.