29 October 2007
A personal finance expert at uSwitch has advised consumers on the new Alliance & Leicester (A&L) Premier 50 current account.
The new service offers a range of benefits aimed at the retiree and 'grown-up gapper' market - including travel and medical insurance - for a £10 per month fee, along with a 0% overdraft and an eye-catching 7% in-credit interest rate.
However, Mike Naylor warned that interest rate offer applies for a limited time only upon taking out the account - and that holders could in fact be charged for their overdraft usage.
He said: "As with most of A&L's accounts, the Premier 50 account offers an attractive in-credit interest rate…however, this 'silver' rate has a cloudy lining - it expires in January 2009 and then tracks the Bank of England base rate minus 1%.
Mr Naylor added: "Alliance and Leicester's boast of a 0% overdraft for life is also too good to be true, as [it employs] the same charging structure that has been applied to the Premier and Premier Direct accounts - this stipulates that authorised overdraft usage could cost customers up to £5 a month, or £60 a year."
Furthermore, according to uSwitch research the attractive insurance offers bundled with Premier 50 could be more cheaply purchased by customers picking and choosing cover for themselves rather than depending on a packaged deal.
"As with all packaged accounts, they are only good value for money if you need all the benefits - there is no point paying for something that you are not going to use or already have," Mr Naylor added.