Money News
14th August 2008
Barclays' Personal Reserve system slammed
Barclays' Personal Reserve system has done little to make overdraft fees more comprehensible to consumers, it has been claimed.
The lender is introducing the system on August 18th, with account holders paying a single fee of £22 to allow them to go over overdrawn as many times as they wish for a five day period without incurring fees.
Barclays said it was bringing in the system to make overdraft fees simpler for customers.
However, according to Kevin Mountford, head of savings and current accounts at moneysupermarket.com, Personal Reserves will do little to improve understanding of the charges.
He said: "I don't think they are making the system any easier for consumers as the Personal Reserve isn't as clear as Barclays make out, indeed it has had to set up a video blog just to help explain it to customers.
"The truth of the matter is that if overdraft charges were lower banks wouldn't need to resort to confusing "reserves" and "buffer zones" to try and make the charges more palatable."
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