Barclays criticised for rates increase

The banking giant is increasing the interest it charges people who go into the red by up to 5 per cent from the end of April.

The rate increase will affect around a fifth of the group's current account customers.

The move comes just days after Barclays announced a 92 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to 11.6bn, helped by the sale of its fund management arm and a strong performance by investment bank Barclays Capital.

The record results led to Barclays paying out 2.7bn in bonuses, 1.5bn of which was in cash.

Peter Vicary-Smith, of Which?, said: "The base rate hasn't gone up and Barclays have just announced bumper profits, so many of their current account holders will be angry at this sudden increase in overdraft rates.

"Any Barclays customer who's unhappy with this rate hike should vote with their feet by shopping around and switching to a current account that best suits their needs."

But a Barclays spokesman said: "We are continually reviewing our rates to ensure we get the balance between the cost of providing the overdraft and the associated risk and on that basis some of our current account overdrafts will increase from the end of April. The majority of our customers will not be subject to any overdraft increases as our standard Barclays Bank Account remains unchanged."