It pays to change your bank account, but few of us do so, finds MAXINE GORDON

SHEER laziness is costing most of us our hard-earned cash.

Research by consumer champions Which? has found that few people consider switching their bank accounts - even though seven in ten of us could make savings.

Which? reckons that if the 70 per cent of people who put their cash into the four big banks - Barclays, HSBS, Lloyds TSB and NatWest - switched to one of the best accounts around, they could save a whopping £500 million.

Finding a better account used to be a time-consuming business, but not anymore.

Which? - the magazine of the independent Consumer's Association - has just launched a new website (www.switchwithwhich.co.uk) to help people interested in switching their current account to make the right choice.

It's all part of the organisation's No Interest campaign, which follows one earlier this year to encourage people to change gas suppliers, after British Gas raised its prices.

The latest campaign is designed to alert consumers to the benefits of switching their current accounts.

The website allows you to compare your account against others in the market place, and contrasts interest on credit balances, overdraft rates, customer satisfaction and whether the bank offers telephone, internet or branch banking facilities.

The research finds that the big four banks offer the poorest deals, offering just 0.1 per cent interest on current account credit balances, compared with more than three per cent elsewhere, and overdraft rates up to twice the amount of the best on the market, which is around nine per cent.

Helen Parker, editor of Which?, said: "A staggering 23 million people with a bank account have never even considered switching to another bank. The big four banks pay virtually no interest on their current accounts. We estimate that if they paid similar rates to the best accounts around, then customers would be around half-a-billion pounds better off each year. But because people don't switch, the big banks have no reason to change." Not only does the website help you identify better banking deals, it makes it easier to switch accounts by providing a useful list of contact numbers and weblinks for all the banks it features.

I "road tested" the website by using my two current accounts, one with Bank of Scotland, a second with Barclays.

The Which? reckoner showed that the BoS scored well by paying 2.02 per cent interest on the credit in your account, and a very competitive overdraft rate of 8.9 per cent. Customer satisfaction was rated as "average". It also provides a free overdraft facility of £100.

The Which? comparison found Barclays pays just 0.1 per cent interest on your account and has an overdraft rate of 15.6 per cent. Customer satisfaction was rated as "worst".

One of the accounts Which? suggested switching to was with the Bank of Scotland.

Tracy Goodyer, of Barclays, said the bank had introduced some new products and services to benefit customers, and pointed out the bank's customer base was strong, and growing, with 10.1 million current account holders. Last year, Barclays and the Woolwich - which it owns - recruited 400,000 new customers.

She said: "We have launched a Barclays Open Plan, which has a facility to sweep money from your credit account into a savings account with higher interest. We'd never encourage people to keep surplus funds in their current account. We are the largest online bank and we are in the global ATM alliance and have cut charges to customers when they withdraw money abroad.

"We are always looking at the market and our products to make sure we remain competitive. We have made a lot of changes in the past year and we are not resting on our laurels."

Updated: 09:37 Thursday, May 09, 2002