Bank gives you £19 for a £20 note

IF you are short of change and in a hurry, a machine which can swap a £20 note for coins may sound like the perfect solution. But the device now being piloted in a number of NatWest branches gives back only 19 £1 coins, keeping £ 1 for its trouble.

Customers already fed up with expensive bank charges are not impressed.

Anyone changing two £5 notes or a £10 note gets back 10 £1 coins. But try any larger note and the sums suddenly don't add up. The machine charges £1 to change sums between £20 and £50, £2 to change from £51 to £100 and £3 for changing more than £100.

NatWest account holders can still change cash free of charge at the counter, but those whose accounts are with different banks must use the machines.

Customers queueing to use the cash dispenser machine at Bexleyheath in Kent - the others are in Leicester, Kingston in Surrey, and Fulham in West London - were unanimous in their disapproval.

They labelled it as just another way for the banks to boost profits. 'It's a bloody cheek,' said Jeff Tree, 45, a businessman. 'I thought it was a joke when I first saw the notice about the charges.'

'It's outrageous,' said 52-year-old John Paget, a plumber. 'The banks make far too much money from us as it is.'

Joyce Edwards, 49, and her daughter Kim, 23, agreed with him and insisted they would not be using it. 'Banks earn far too much from us and they certainly shouldn't charge for this service,' said Mrs Edwards. 'If we want to change money, we can go to the sweet shop and do so by buying a Mars bar or something.'

A spokesman for NatWest defended the cash machines, and said that they clearly displayed their charge tariffs.

'The change machines are part of a pilot scheme,' he said. 'It is an added service that we provide for our customers. Most customers only use these machines to obtain coins for car parking and will normally change less than ten pounds, so they do not incur any charges.'