I believe penalty charges should exist. You cannot have a situation where a customer breaks a contract and there is no pentaly for them. Imagne if we had the same situation on speeding fines ? What if people refused to pay because they thought the charges to be unfair and illegal ? The level of penalty charges are what we need to look into, as they do seem unfair in relation to the cost to the banks. I would feel cheated if penalty charges were abolished, becuase my goof conduct on all my accounts and credit cards would seem pointless. For the record, in the past 20 years I have never had a single pentaly charge on my current accounts or credit cards, even whilst I was a student. And at a time I was operating 5 current accounts and 7 credit card accounts. People should take some responsibilty for their behaviour, we do seem to live in a "blame someone else society". Pentaly charges should exist, but they must be fair and proportionate.

amjed hussain, Hale Village, Cheshire, UK

The bank really have right to keep charging extationate fees and at the same time saying that everything is 'on ice' whilst paying out. I have helped many under privliged people (many nurses) to reclaim back their money and this is a stalling tatic by the banks so they can offer next to nothing back to the customers in the time frame before they lose in the test case.Everyone who has two brain cells can see that

Shabir Ditta, Leeds, West Yorkshire

I am currently a student and I estimate that 35% of my money over the last 3 yearshas been given to the bank in charges after being overdrawn (normally by about in the region of 5 pounds).
Barclays make my financial life extremely difficult and once I pay off my overdraft, I would like to close my bank account and wipe my hands of them.
They have an appauling way of dealing with customers and have no morals whatsoever.

Olivia, Oxford, England