Bank complaints 'rise by half'

Now here's a surprise..

Complaints against high street banks have risen by almost half in the last year, according to the Banking Codes Standards Board, the banking watchdog.
The sharp rise in complaints comes weeks after five of the biggest banks announced combined annual profits of £32bn - more than Luxembourg's GDP

The major high street banks are moving further away from helping their customers manage their finances towards charging exorbitant fees everytime they go overdrawn.

Recently I was charged £120 for going £80 over my overdraft limit. Each time a payment went out of my account Natwest charged me £28.50 for a "referral fee". which presumably refers to the high cost of their computer referring to my account and checking whether a box is ticked to allow overlimit transactions, and how large they can be. Now, I have a little experience in allocating transaction costs, and if this isn't the most profitable activity the high street banks carry out I'd be very surprised.

The question is, how exactly does being charged £28.50 per overlimit transaction help me to manage my finances better? Punitive charges which go straight into the pockets of shareholders simply annoy your customers and encourage switching. With the rise of alternative online providers the high street banks will have to buck their ideas up or risk losing the consumer banking part of their business.