HSBC

The Government has today announced a voluntary package of measures, agreed with the major banks, to help limit overdraft charges when a customer exceeds their limit.

HSBC and First Direct customers have reported being unable to use their cards or access their accounts online this afternoon.

More banks have admitted they are failing to hit the 28-day deadline between agreeing a payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation figure and paying it.

The major banks have shunned the launch of junior Isas next week.

Consumers with a current account that offers insurance or other extras could be left without any cover if they fail to register first.

Barclays was the most complained-about bank during the first half of the year, figures from the regulator today show.

Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) gripes boosted the number of complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in the first half of 2011 by a massive 54%, compared to the amount of cases in the second half of 2010.

Some big UK banks, including HSBC, have failed to hit an extended deadline to clear their backlog of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) misselling complaints.

Santander is still comfortably the worst bank account provider for customer service, according to a poll of MoneySavingExpert.com users, despite claims it had cleaned up its act.

Barclays reported a 33% drop in half-year profits to £2.6 billion after it took a £1 billion hit to cover compensation for customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance.