Banks 'still punishing customers'

Scotland's banks are still letting down their customers with policies and practices that are damaging, inflexible and unfair, according to Citizens Advice Scotland.

Chief executive Susan McPhee said: "During the recession, many banks became aggressive and unsympathetic in the way they dealt with customers who went into arrears, even though the arrears were often the result of the banks' own unfair policies. These policies hit the poorest hardest.

"Those same people are now being penalised by these banks every day, with high charges, limited access to bank accounts, and the dreadful practice of 'set-off', where a bank can take a customer's money out of their account without even telling them."