Would you stay with a bank that charged a fee for a standard current account, asks Guardian Unlimited Money editor Sandra Haurant.
Internet bank First Direct is going to charge current account customers a monthly fee of £10 from February 2007 unless they pay in £1,500 a month, keep a balance of the same amount, or take out another of the bank's products, such as a savings account. The move has provoked concerns that it could mark the end of free banking if others follow.
One reader and First Direct customer wrote to Guardian Unlimited Money: "I am not working at the moment but my salary went into my First Direct account for many years, although I never earned as much as £1,500 per month.
"When I called First Direct this morning to complain, the lady who took the call suggested that I could avoid this charge if I took out one of their other products, but apart from the fact that they aren't very competitive anyway, I no longer wish to deal with a bank which treats its customers in this way."
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