Nat West Extortion!

Hillsey

Hello, newbie here.

After a year out of work my overdraft with the Nat West has reached £1,700. £1,300 of this is my overdraft limit the rest is charges. When I called to complain I was offerd a loan to pay off the overdraft to "help me get back on my feet". They asked me to cut up my cheque guarantee card and they sent me some forms to complete.

On receiving the forms I saw that the rate of interest on the loan would be 28.4%.

Don't get me wrong I want to get rid of my overdraft but how can they get away with such an extortionate rate?

Obviously because of a year out of work my credit rating is shot to pieces but surely this is a case of the Nat West shooting fish in a barrel as they know I will not be able to borrow elsewhere.

Last year I did get them to pay back over £6,000 in unfair charges and I'm thinking that this is there way of getting some of that back.

Do I have anywhere to complaion to or can I get any advice?

Any suggestions are most welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Hillsey

Tassotti

I'm surprised they still let you have an account with them!!

You claimed back 6k of 'unfair charges'

I take it these unfair charges was because you didn't have the money to pay your bills?

What makes you think that the bank should just give you money?

Hillsey

Thanks for your support.

I don't regard my account with them as any kind of privilage but they have for example charged me £76 for two unpaid DD's which I cancelled two motnts ago.

I am more than happy to arrange a loan to pay off the overdraft but do you regard a rate of 28.4% acceptable...or do you work for them?

Ivor_Bigun

Hillsey wrote: »

do you regard a rate of 28.4% acceptable

You are BAD risk, so accept it or find better if you can.

Tassotti

I don't work for Natwest, but I do own a loan company.

28.4% is a lot less than I would charge.

If you have grievances with more unfair charges, claim them back as well.(if you can)

I know you are a new member, but I have no sympathy for defaulters (and, as far as I can see it, thiefs)

ixwood

Jeez, give te guy a break. That is a stinking rate.

I think the debt free wannabe board will be a lot more use to you Hillsey. You'll get a lot of help and good advice.

Good luck!

~Brock~

ixwood wrote: »

Jeez, give te guy a break. That is a stinking rate.

I think the debt free wannabe board will be a lot more use to you Hillsey. You'll get a lot of help and good advice.

Good luck!

Fair comment, but surely you cannot rack up £6400 of bank charges just by bouncing the occasional DD. It's known as rate for risk - just like car insurance.

CHR15

Based on history, it is a fairly good bet that the OP is not going to pay back the new loan or at the very least, decide to take some payment holidays.

If we can deduce that from a few posts, I'm surprised the banks will even entertain an application, let alone approve one knowing the 28.4% isn't relevant if he isn't going to pay them back regularly anyway.

petermb_2

Tassotti wrote: »

I don't work for Natwest, but I do own a loan company.

28.4% is a lot less than I would charge.

If you have grievances with more unfair charges, claim them back as well.(if you can)

I know you are a new member, but I have no sympathy for defaulters (and, as far as I can see it, thiefs)

Thieves, interesting analogy.
I suppose if you OWN a loan company you would think like that. Do you OWN a loan company or a loan brokerage?

I find it hypercritical of lenders to shout "robbery and thieves" at people who default and yet you dont mind setting up Single Premium Payment protection plans on loans where the policies are 90% guaranteed not to pay out and yet you earn up to 80% of the premium as commission.

What exactly do you call that?

Kavanne

CHR15 wrote: »

If we can deduce that from a few posts, I'm surprised the banks will even entertain an application, let alone approve one knowing the 28.4% isn't relevant if he isn't going to pay them back regularly anyway.

From that rate sounds like I did initially decline but because the loan was to repay money already owed to the natwest (ie: the OD) they can override it (which pushes up the interest rate as its declined).

~Brock~

Kavanne wrote: »

From that rate sounds like I did initially decline but because the loan was to repay money already owed to the natwest (ie: the OD) they can override it (which pushes up the interest rate as its declined).

I bet the rate quoted is still significantly cheaper than the costs of the overdraft, remembring the fact that the transaction charges don't get included in the quoted overdraft APR.