When Yorkshire Bank had a branch in our home town, they would call us if something was going to bounce and one of us could pop in to the branch and pay some cash in to cover it. Now they've closed both the branch in Stevenage and Hitchin, I work 30 miles away and my wife doesn't drive - the nearest branch is in Luton. Last month I realised that they were going to apply their £20 charge despite there only being £19-odd in the account and tried to make a direct transfer from my bank which would clear a day later than the charge was due to be taken, so I sent them a secure message to advise the situation and could they please not hit us with an £8 charge now and another £20 next month. They charged us, the reply to the secure message just said 'sorry, not our department, you'll have to speak to Luton' and that was it. So we'd made every conceivable effort to put money into the account and they still charged us, and the only thing that was taking us overdrawn was them applying their own charges! It is hard when you are on a tight budget and a low-ish income to be exactly within your boundaries each month. It is easy to make a mistake. And the banks know this, and exploit it.