In a surprise announcement today Alliance and Leicester have offered a FREE £100 payment to be deposited in the successful applicants new bank account, on top an £2,000 interest free overdraft for 12 months and a 8.5%AER interest rate.

This announcement was almost perfectly timed to respond to the Office of Fair Trading latest comment in which they have pointed the finger at the main high street banks for not doing enough for their customers. Most high street current account providers will offer little or no interest on a positive balance, whilst some savings accounts will offer over 6.5%AER. It means that banks are making large sums of money in interest from these credit balances in current accounts without having pay any of it out to their customers.

As a result banks such as Alliance and Leicester should be welcomed for providing these outstanding current account offers, that are bound to make the high street banks sit-up and take notice.