OFT Puts Pressure On UK Current Account Providers

On 16 July 2008, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced the results of its market study into personal current accounts in the UK, namely that these accounts are not serving consumers well.

The OFT's findings on consumers' understanding of their current accounts include:

• consumers are unclear about where banks derive revenue from operating their current accounts;
  
  
• "a significant number" of customers do not know how much they actually pay in charges;
  
  
• over three-quarters do not know the credit interest rate of their current account;
  
  
• even those who know the credit interest rate of their current account are unable to calculate the interest they are forgoing.