BANKS are facing a customer revolt over high charges and poor customer service as dissatisfaction grows hand in hand with soaring profits.

The number of complaints about high-street banks to the Banking Code Standards Board (BCSB), the industry regulator, rocketed by 50% last year, the board revealed last week.

The Financial Ombudsman Service, which also deals with bank disputes, said it expects complaints to jump from about 9,500 to 10,500 this year.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, warned Kevin Dilton-Hill of the bank-complaints website Poorexperience.co.uk.

“The BCSB and Financial Ombudsman are often contacted only as the last resort by people looking for monetary compensation,” he said. “This ignores the many day-to-day problems that cause customers a huge amount of aggravation.”

As complaints have surged so have the banks’ profits. In 2005, the total profits for the sector topped £33 billion. Consumer groups calculate that this means the so-called Big Five banks — HSBC, RBS/ NatWest, Halifax/Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB — made at least £4m an hour between them.

Joanna Elson at the British Bankers’ Association disputes claims that customers are dissatisfied. “We are not complacent, but we think customers get a very good deal,” she said.

But MPs and consumer groups have urged the government to clamp down on the banks, which often fool customers into choosing accounts that may not be in their best interests. Here are the most blatant ploys.

The withdrawal scam

Some banks are trapping savers in accounts that promise eye-catching rates and easy access, but penalise customers who make withdrawals.

HSBC’s Online Saver account has a high headline rate of 4.75% on balances of £500 and above. But you don’t receive any interest in months when you make a withdrawal.

The banks argue that they make the terms clear, but Sue Hannums of Chase de Vere, a financial adviser, is concerned that savers will be caught out by “confusion marketing”.

“Savings accounts have become more complex making it difficult for customers to compare deals,” Hannums said.

“Banks and building societies can profit from the confusion.”

The fees scam

The banks boast that they offer everything free if customers stay in credit, but they penalise customers who make the slightest slip.

These penalty fees generate big profits for the banks. Investment bank Credit Suisse has estimated that UK high-street banks generate about £1 billion of annual profits from penalty charges across bank accounts and credit cards.

One favourite ploy is to levy huge penalty fees on those who go overdrawn without permission, or have insufficient funds to cover a direct debit or cheque. Lloyds TSB charges up to £90 a month if you unwittingly exceed your overdraft limit, and charges a punitive 29.8% interest on top.

Banks typically charge about £30 for returning unpaid cheques or direct debits.

They also charge over the odds if you fail to pay the minimum monthly charge on your credit card by the due date. You will typically pay £25 on top of the normal interest charges.

Andrew Hagger at Moneyfacts, a financial-research firm, said: “You could end up being hit by a double whammy if your payment to your credit company was returned unpaid by your current-account provider. Not only would you have to pay the £30 levied by the bank but, to rub salt into the wound, you would be charged an additional fee by the credit-card company — which in many cases will be part of the same institution.”

These charges have raised the ire of the Office of Fair Trading. It ruled last month that penalty charges of more than

£12 on credit cards, current accounts and mortgages were unfair because they do not reflect the costs incurred by the banks. It has given companies until the end of this month to respond to the ruling.

The bonus scam

A number of savings schemes pay short-term bonuses to get them into the best-buy tables, only to lower their rates later.

Northern Rock’s Tracker Online pays 5.01%, but this includes a bonus of 0.71 percentage points that runs for only six months, after which it falls to 4.3% — assuming the Bank of England does not cut base rate between now and then, which might take it even lower.

Another warning sign is an issue number on the account. Providers that use this tactic tend to replace the original account with a new best-buy deal after a few months. As a result they do not have to pay the high rate to all their customers.

The transfer scam

Despite pressure from the Bank of England and Office of Fair Trading to speed up transactions, payments made by cheque, standing order, internet or phone transfer can take up to five working days, plus weekends and bank holidays.

Modern technology means banks could clear any of these items the same day they receive them. Lloyds TSB is alone in paying immediate interest on cheques, but there are strings attached. It is restricted to cheques of £1,000 or less and its regular current account pays only 0.1% interest.

Consumer groups say we should not be surprised the banks are in no hurry to speed up the system because they make at least £30m a year from these seemingly innocuous delays.

The complaints scam

Some banks believe that if they ignore complaints they will go away.

The BCSB is concerned about the way some banks deal with customer grievances. It has threatened to report the culprits to the Financial Services Authority, the City regulator.

Under the terms of the banking code, firms should deal with customer complaints in no more than eight weeks.