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Monthly account fee
'waste of cash'

A report has found that people paying monthly fees on current accounts to receive supposed extra benefits could be wasting their cash.

Customers are shelling out anything from £5 to £25 a month for access to a wide range of services including worldwide travel insurance and breakdown cover.

But a lot of people with such accounts would be better off simply paying for the services they used separately - and enjoying a free current account.

The research, carried out by Which? found that only 12% of people with a packaged account took advantage of all of the benefits it offered, while 10% admitted they did not use any of them and 78% used only some of them.

Around a quarter of all current accounts are packaged accounts, and Which? said banks were trying to increase the number of customers with them as they face losing revenue from unauthorised overdraft charges.

It said banks spent 42% of their advertising budget for current accounts on promoting packaged accounts during 2008, up from 28% in 2007.

James Daley, editor of Which? Money, said: "Anyone considering one of these accounts needs to look carefully at the alternatives before agreeing to pay a monthly fee for extras they may not need."

All articles are copyright The Press Association 2009. News articles provided by The Press Association for Family Investments. Whilst every care it taken to ensure accuracy of editorial content, Family Investments takes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. The views expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Family Investments.

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Monthly account fee 'waste of cash'

Monthly account fee
'waste of cash'