Banks charging for mobile banking texts

Consumers are now being charged for SMS services that used to be offered for free

Mobile banking is weak in the UK, but banks still want to charge for it

UK banks are now charging customers for services offered via SMS - a facility that used to be offered for free until recently following the introduction of mobile banking last year.

Lloyds TSB introduced a limit alert service in November to alert customers of overdraft limit alerts. In addition to existing free weekly balance text updates, customers are charged a monthly fee of £2.50 to get a "limit alert" SMS service that warns them if they are close to, or over, their account limit. The charge is irrespective of the number of monthly texts received by customers.

More banks seem to be following suit, including Barclays, Abbey and Alliance & Leicester (A&L). A&L intends to begin charging a monthly fee for customers using text message services from October.

But other institutions, such as Royal Bank of Scotland, currently offer text message alerts for free and have no plans to start charging users in the near future.

The prolific use of mobile banking may encounter challenges such as security, which plays a significant factor in a so-far weak uptake. UK mobile users rank among the most reluctant to use their device to bank online, with 79 per cent of users saying they do not trust phones to provide a secure transaction, according to recent research from Unisys.