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UK Notes
UK News

Christians Against Poverty welcomes proposals to ban unauthorised overdraft fee

The chief executive of the UK's City Watchdog Andrew Bailey, stated that he had "clear concerns" about the costs of such fees, stating that they were often "significantly higher" than payday loans.

The head of the city regulator stated in an official report that unarranged overdraft costs now exceed interest on payday loans. However, there were concerns that an outright ban could lead to an increase in other fees or an end to free current account banking.

Daniel Kelly, the Creditor Relations Analyst from Christians Against Poverty spoke to Premier during News Hour and welcomed the news saying: "We've been asking for a lot of this dialogue on unauthorised overdrafts, in terms of how they work.

"'Are they fair? Are they transparent?' And certainly, the conversation going on right now is very positive."

However, he did not attribute all of debt and poverty problems to unauthorised overdraft fees alone, stating:

"In terms of keeping people in debt and poverty, there's a whole load of circumstances that come with it.

"We see quite often it has a lot to do with relationship breakdown, job loss and a whole load of financial products – that could be credit cards, that can be overdrafts, that can be friends and family."

Nevertheless, Kelly did disclose that up to 55% of clients were relying on their overdraft to pay their bills.

He warned that what may seem a good idea now, may not be a good idea after a loss of income due to a job loss so a sustainable budget is essential to avoid these fees.

The report revealed that out of four million current account holders, ten per cent breach their limits at least one month a year.

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