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Overdrawn by 43p - Natwest slap on £28 'maintenance charge'
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If I go overdrawn, my bank transfers money from another of my accounts. It hasn't happened in a while though, as i'm more aware of what's coming in and going out since I was able to check online.0
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I have been with them since I was 12. I had gone overdrawn when I was 16/17. (Now 19, almost 20 woo)0
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Ok thanks.This is an open forum, anyone can post and I just did !0
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I have been with them since I was 12. I had gone overdrawn when I was 16/17. (Now 19, almost 20 woo)
I am going to respond to both your posts. At 16 or 17 if there were charges, and I was in the charges campaign at that time, was on consumer action group, I would have told you that the bank could not have charged you at that age, that the debt was unenforceable and if it had been natwest, I might have taken the terms and conditions apart as I have done on the reclaim board here.
I agree with you he could have paid in the money to avoid the charge, the bank do not monitor accounts that have gone over their overdraft facility per se. Bank charges as we stand today, are lawful and therefore a breakdown of costs is irrelevant. We can go into a discussion of service charge vs. penalty charges, but the OFT test case is determining that issue. As it stands today, and with the maintenance charge, the account could have zig zagged into and over any agreed facility over one month and only one amount would be charged. I do understand where you are coming from.0 -
Sorry but the breakdown of costs is NOT irrelevant and the test case has already shown that.
This site has shown many people have taken the banks to courts and due to the fact that they won't show the courts how much it really costs them to pursue these cases they have paid up. Says it all to me. Admission of guilt is easy to gain from these examples.
As for natwest, i've been with them since I went to uni 8 years ago and have always paid money in, I had a spell about 3 or 4 years ago where I had major problems with cashflow and received several charges. I have disputed these now with the banks to try and regain some of the money BUT what I find so infuriating about Natwest is the general arrogance of the staff I have come into contact with, the pitiful interest rates and the fact that small misdemeanors are charged for no matter what the amount.
For example, I went 12p over my limit in June, a whopping £28 charge follows.
My g/f went £4 overdrawn with Barclays (before the change to their banking procedures) and no charges at all.
Suffice to say, I'm moving to A&L at the moment, where interest rates are far better and I don't see as many comments on these boards about A&L than I do about Natwest.
Funnily enough, I wonder what crosses peoples minds when they now join Natwest.
Yes join us, you gain 0.1% interest if you have a current account, a measly below inflation rate in our savings direct account plus a 19.4% (around that) overdraft rate.
Compared to other banks who can provide 8.5% interest, around 15-16% on overdrafts and above inflation savings rates!!
It astounds me that they still get new customers.0 -
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My bf has just received notification of a £28 maintenance charge.
He has just come out of his graduate interest free overdraft period, but still retained a £500 overdraft. He called last month to check what the t&cs were (rates etc) and asked to either close the account and use a diff one (if the rates were unfavourable) or make use of the credit. He was told how much was available and arranged to bring the accoutn to the -£500 limit.
It seems that interest was applied following this call for £3.41 on 29 Aug which took it over by 3.41 until Sep 03 when his monthly 'saving' direct debit enters the account (he uses the accoutn as a kind of saving/ emergency fund). This was the first interest charge since the graduate interest free overdraft ending. Hence £28 kick in the face. Big regret not closing the account!
Just to clarify, he got the CSA to confirm that there would be money available to pay these charges (£50 has since gone in) which is when she said yes, but that he had to be aware of the FURTHER £28 in Oct! - It seems he gets charged twice for August and september even though it was one short occurance!
Argh.
Can anything be done? :-(0 -
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Response received today from Natwest - the £28 charge has been waived :j :j :j
In their letter they have said -
"The bank considers its charges to be fair, reasonable and transparent. Having reviewed your account, the charges debited have been applied correctly and in accordance with our published tariff. However, on this occasion as a gesture of goodwill, we have arranged a refund of £28 to your account. We have also arranged to waive any related unauthorised borrowing fees (there were MORE??). Please note that all charges taken correctly in the future will stand."
Well, it was certainly worth writing. So hopefully this may help someone else in the same position.
*:eek:0
This discussion has been closed.
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