NatWest to increase fees on current accounts in just days
Customers will be facing hiked fees from Friday, June 28
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NatWest are increasing the rates on some of their reward current accounts.
Thousands of customers will be forced to pay more each month to benefit from the extra rewards.
From Friday, June 28, customers will have to pay an extra £60 a year on its Reward Black account.
The monthly fee is set to rise from £31 to £36 per month - a extra £5 a month.
Customers who subscribe to this account can benefit from worldwide family travel insurance, UK and European car breakdown cover and access to certain airport lounges.
Additionally, the fee on the Reward Platinum account will rise from £20 to £22 per month.
Barclays has emailed customers to let them know that this £5 monthly reward will no longer be available September 4
GETTYThis is an extra £24 over the course of a year.
There will be no changes to any other NatWest accounts.
A NatWest spokesperson said: "We're making some changes to the monthly fee with some of our packaged accounts.
"The cost of providing the benefits associated with these accounts has risen considerably in recent years, and we have frozen our prices for the last five years."
The bank said the drivers of the fee increases are the insurance associated with these accounts and the claim rate experienced by its third-party providers, particularly with respect to travel, car breakdown and mobile phone claims.
There have also been increased costs driven by inflation for other benefits, such as Concierge and Airport Lounge access.
High inflation has also caused other banks to increase fees.
The news of NatWest's increased costs follows the news about the Lloyds accounts.
The Lloyds silver and platinum club accounts will be going up on July 1.
Customers will soon be expected to pay an extra £18 per year for the accounts.
These are the changes Lloyds has confirmed:
- Club Lloyds Silver is now £10 a month (plus a £3 Club fee unless you deposit £2,000 each month) and will rise to £11.50 a month from July 1.
- Club Lloyds Platinum is now £21 a month (plus a £3 Club fee unless you deposit £2,000 each month) and will rise to £22.50 a month from July 1.
There will be no changes to any free Lloyds account with no fees.
Barclays has also confirmed it is scrapping a popular loyalty reward scheme as part of a wider "makeover" but bank customers will still have to pay £5 a month.
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Under the bank's Blue Rewards scheme, customers have previously paid £5 per month in return for access to high-interest savings accounts and cashback, and have also got £5 per month back for having two or more direct debits.
However, Barclays has emailed customers to let them know that this £5 monthly reward will no longer be available after September 4, along with other product cash rewards.
As part of the email, titled “Barclays Blue Rewards is having a makeover”, customers were told that Blue Rewards members can now access other benefits as part of the £5 a month charge.
These include an Apple TV+ subscription and being able to watch Major League Soccer matches with an MLS season pass subscription during the season.