Michael Dean :: Blog :: Banks win overdraft charges court case

This court case was never addressing the main issue.

It is not the principle of having penalties for going overdrawn, it is the AMOUNT of penalty that these greedy and grasping banks are taking.

The very concept of a FIXED penalty is the problem. These penalties are set up to penalise the poorest and weakest in our society.

This incompetent Labour government did a huge amount of damage by closing post offices and forcing many people to have benefits, pensions etc paid into bank accounts. They did not understand the consequences of this action, all they could see were cost saving!

People on low incomes should NOT be forced to have a bank account. They are the least able to manage bank accounts and the ones who suffer the most when things go wrong.

Many elderly, sick and low paid workers only have £50 a week available to pay ALL their bills. The moment they get charged £30 plus, their accounts go out of control and they end up owing the banks hundreds of pounds.

Penalty charges MUST be PROPORTIONAL to income.

We cannot have a situation where the money paid to the poorest people in our society and which they need to live on is taken by the banks to increase their profits and add to the bonuses paid to the senior staff!!

Our prime minister did not bother listening to those who forecast exactly what would happen if the government persisted in forcing people to open bank accounts. Gordon Brown made the wrong decision, as usual, and the poorest people in the UK are the ones who are hit the hardest!