My packaged account has no monthly charge if I keep a minimum balance of £4000. With the current very low interest rates on savings the benefits of having this account have never been better.

I use to have a current account with benefits for £15 but the benefits were of no use to me... discounted car insurance (when i cant drive), AA Cover, Holiday / Travel Insurance - (But i'm in the forces and dont get much chance for a holiday), so i left the bank and now have an account where there is no monthly charge. Although, if we have a monthly fee, i believe we should not be given extra charges if Direct Debits or cheques get returned unpaid... what are we paying for if not the benefits???

Banks are a rip off, and have placed people in todays society at their mercy. They have regretably become a necessary evil, i.e. you cannot get paid except into a bank account and they have ridiculous charges.

I once bought an engagement ring for my fiancée at the time, and had requested that it not go out before a certain date. GE Capital of course tried to take the money out early, just to have me incurr charges, not only by them, but by my bank at the time, which they were shareholders in, so I got lumbered with about GBP70 in charges, this happened 3 times in a row, so that they could black list me.

Unlike the Banks in Iceland (eventhough their economy is rubbish), British banks don´t give you a monthly overview of each loan your paying off like they do in Iceland, and there, they even itemise your receipt, telling you how much the capital is prior to payment, how much your payment is, how much of it is interest, how much is inflationary interest (on loans with indicators), and how much the remaining capital is.

What is also funny in this country, is this stupidity of "The Computer Says No". - It doesn´t matter, if you are in good standing with your bank, any sod can ruin your credit rating, and your bank only deals with a credit rating company, which they are shareholders in, and they want you to pay through the nose, to find out information about yourself. This is ridiculous.

They should all be keeldrawn and then hung from the highest yardarm, made to kiss the gunners daughter for good measures.

What is needed, is that WE the customers, should have a website or websites, where we blacklist companies that treat customers in this manner and the banks as well, then charge them to provide them with the information as to why it happened, so we can get some of our money back.

my package is with Lloyds tsb, my wife and I are Senior citizens and worldwide travel insurance is very expensive for us. With Lloyds we get worldwide cover, full AA cover, mobile phone insurance and card protection. It costs us £25/ month but in our case it is worth it.