Annual Summary of Charges and Interest: Your Statement of Fees Explained

Your bank has to send you an annual statement of fees, free of charge, once a year. It is a single document that adds up the interest, fees and charges on your current account over the last 12 months, so you can see at a glance what the account has cost you or earned you. The duty comes from payment accounts regulations made in 2015, which require any payment service provider offering a payment account to give the statement free to consumers holding one¹.

The document goes by several names. Some banks call it a statement of fees, others an annual summary of fees and interest, and some fold it into a yearly summary inside your ordinary statement. Whatever the label, the content is the same idea: a summary of all the interest, fees and charges you have incurred, so you can clearly see how much the account has cost or earnt you between two given dates³.

It is not a bill and it is not a monthly statement. It is a yearly look back, and it exists so you can check whether the account still suits you. One bank has now stopped sending it, so the position depends on who you bank with.

What the annual summary of charges and interest shows

The statement is a summary of all the interest, fees and charges you have incurred, so you can clearly see how much the account has cost or earnt you between two given dates³. In practice that means it pulls together the things that are easy to lose track of across a year of monthly statements: any monthly account fee, overdraft interest, unpaid transaction charges, and any interest the bank has paid you.

AIB (NI) describes its version as giving details of any interest, fees or refunds on your account in the last 12 months⁵. Halifax says the statement of fees gives you an overview of the fees and interest on your current account during the period covered by the document⁸. Al Rayan Bank says that if you have a current account you will receive an annual statement of fees showing fees charged over the last 12 months and the services you have used⁹.

Where an account carries a monthly fee, the summary shows it as an annual figure even though you pay it monthly. Royal Bank of Scotland says that where you have a current account fee this is shown as an annual fee on your annual summary, however this is paid on a monthly basis⁶. That is worth knowing, because a monthly fee of a few pounds looks small on a bank statement but adds up over 12 months, and the summary is where that total becomes visible.

The document is not only about current accounts. Similar annual summaries exist across other products: Lloyds Bank credit card statements include a yearly summary of charges around the account anniversary¹⁰, and investment and pension providers send their own annual costs and charges statements¹¹. The rules and the labels differ by product, but the purpose is the same.

Free of charge, sent once a year

The statement costs you nothing. The regulations require providers to give it free of charge to any customer of a payment account⁴, and the underlying rule requires a provider to give an annual statement of fees free of charge to all consumers holding a payment account with it². AIB (NI) puts it plainly: it is legally obliged to provide a Statement of Fees once a year¹³. You cannot be charged for it, and you cannot be asked to opt in to receive it.

On timing, the pattern across banks is an annual document tied to your account anniversary. AIB (NI) says it will send an Annual Summary each year in the anniversary month of your account opening, and will send a summary for each personal current account you hold⁵. Royal Bank of Scotland says the summary covers the detail of any charges, refunds or interest accrued on your current account in the last 12 months⁶. Ulster Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland both say they send a Statement of Fees once a year around the date you opened your current account¹⁴. Bank of Scotland says it will send it annually¹⁶. Bank of Ireland UK says that once a year it will send a summary of all the money it charged you and any interest on your account from the past 12 months¹⁷.

Some banks have moved the wording rather than the substance. Ulster Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland both say they will send a yearly Statement of Fees instead of an Annual Account Summary¹⁴. If you used to look for a document called an annual account summary and cannot find it, that is likely why.

Why it exists: a prompt to check the cost of your account

The point of the statement is to make the cost of a current account visible once a year. Current accounts can carry a monthly fee, and the rules around them can require you to pay in a certain amount each month or pay a monthly fee¹⁹. A monthly fee is easy to stop noticing; an annual total is not.

Packaged accounts are where this bites hardest. The Financial Ombudsman Service has published a case study of a consumer who felt he had wasted money on benefits he never used, having been paying hundreds of pounds every year in packaged bank account fees²⁰. The annual summary is the document that would have shown him that total in one place. If you hold a packaged account, the summary is the natural moment to check whether you are using what you pay for.

The same logic applies to borrowing. Credit cards can charge an annual fee, added to the amount due, and some providers charge one²¹. Overdrafts can carry monthly fees or interest¹⁹. The summary gathers these costs so you can see the year's total rather than a series of small monthly amounts.

If the total is higher than you expected, the first step is to work out which charge is driving it. A monthly account fee, overdraft interest, or a card annual fee each show up differently. StepChange's guidance on working out priority debts is a free starting point for anyone whose borrowing costs are becoming hard to manage²³, and banks themselves may write to you about how you are using your account and its cost, give you information to review your monthly commitments, or help you find further help if they think you need it¹⁹.

Using your summary to compare and switch accounts

The statement is most useful as a comparison tool. Once you know what your account costs you over a year, you can weigh that against what else is available. Current accounts differ widely: some are free, some charge a monthly fee, and some pay interest or cashback. The summary gives you your own figure to compare against.

If you decide to move, the Current Account Switch Service is free to use, and you can choose and agree your switch date with the new bank²⁴. The service moves your balance, Direct Debits and standing orders and redirects payments to your old account for a period, so you do not have to contact each company yourself. Our guide to how switching your bank works sets out the process step by step.

Before switching, it is worth checking what you would be giving up. If your current account pays interest, our page on interest on current accounts and how it is taxed explains how that is treated. If your account comes with a monthly fee and extras, packaged bank accounts covers what is typically included and how to judge whether it is worth it. And if the summary shows you are paying overdraft charges, how overdraft interest and charges work explains what drives the cost.

For savings accounts other than instant access accounts, providers give less detailed information, possibly in a summary box to help compare accounts from different banks and building societies²⁵. That is a different document from the current account statement of fees, but it serves a similar purpose: making the cost and the terms comparable at a glance.

Santander stops sending the annual statement of fees

Santander says that from August 2026 it will stop sending an annual statement of fees⁷. This is a change from the position at other banks, which continue to send the document each year.

For Santander customers, the fees themselves have not changed, only how they are shown. Santander says you can view the fees it charges in the Fee Information Document for your account⁷. It also says fees remain visible in statements, the annual account summary and Online and Mobile Banking⁷. So the information is still available, but it is no longer delivered as a single annual statement of fees.

Santander's own account terms vary. Its 1|2|3 Mini Current Account has no monthly fee²⁶, and its international current and savings accounts have no monthly fees, though some transfers or payments may incur a fee²⁷. If you hold a Santander account and want to check what you are paying, the Fee Information Document is the place it now points customers to.

Where to get help if something looks wrong

If a charge on your summary is wrong, unexplained or higher than you expected, the first step is to ask your bank to explain it. Banks have to handle complaints through their own process, and if you are not satisfied with the outcome you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which offers a free, easy-to-use service²⁸. The ombudsman looks at complaints about financial products and services, including current accounts, and its decisions are binding on the firm.

Free, impartial help is also available from MoneyHelper and from debt advice charities if the summary shows borrowing costs that are becoming difficult. StepChange's guidance on priority debts is a free starting point²³. If you are struggling with an overdraft specifically, our page on struggling to repay an overdraft sets out the options.

It is also worth knowing that the annual summary is not the only document your bank must send. Mortgage customers in arrears, for example, must receive a regular written statement of the payments due, the actual payment shortfall, the debt and, where relevant, the charges incurred, at least once a quarter²⁹. Different products carry different disclosure duties, and the annual statement of fees is the one that applies to payment accounts.