Complaining to NatWest

iamassault

Hi, this is my first time posting, and I hope this is in the correct section!

NatWest has made some huge errors on my account and I need to complain, but need a bit of advice on the best way of going about this, and exactly what I should be asking for when I complain.

I'll explain the situation a little...

I'd not been able to access my current account online for about a week, so I popped into my local branch to ask what had happened. They then told me that my account had been put on hold. After some time on the phone, the person who was dealing with me informed me that my account had mistakingly been flagged as belonging to my brother (different name, same address), whose account had recently been put on hold for owing money to them (he was using a debt management company who wrote to NatWest to arrange a payment plan). Evidently, they had flagged my account at the same time.

Well, this meant that I could no longer use my account. I am currently overdrawn by a couple hundred pounds (arranged overdraft), and can pay money in, but not take any out. Luckily I have other bank accounts, so I've had to move all of my bill payments to another bank (phone, Internet, etc), and luckily I have other bank accounts registered with PayPal etc so that I can still do business on eBay and through my website. If I did not have these safeguards set up and only had NatWest, I would have been unable to pay any bills, my phone and Internet would have been cancelled, I would have been unable to take any money out of the bank, and I would have been in a huge amount of trouble financially.

Obviously I want some sort of compensation for this. My account with NatWest is still on hold right now. I've been told that it should apparently be sorted within the next few days, at which point I am to go into my branch again to talk about "re-applying" for my overdraft. I do not have good credit, so I am assuming that this will be hard to sort out, and that I will spend another couple of weeks at the bank and without the use of my account.

So... I'm looking for advice as to what the best way is to complain to NatWest, and what I should be asking for. It is only due to my own diligence that I have other bank accounts just in case this sort of thing happens (I've never trusted banks much), and of course if I was relying on NatWest for all my banking, I would have been in a huge amount of trouble. They did not even write to me about my account being on hold since it was flagged as belonging to my brother (despite being under a different name and a different branch), so they wrote to him about "his" accounts, but not me. I only found out because I went into my branch to ask about my online access.

Thanks in advance to anyone that has the time to read this tome of text and reply!

willo65

I would say in regards to compensation you won't get a lot if anything. As the overdraft is technically not your money anyway and can be withdrawn at anytime then in theory you are not in a different position had the bank decided to withdraw the overdraft all together.

But the fastest way to complain would be by phone ask for a complaint reference number and then they will follow their internal complaints procedure from there.

Kavanne

willo works for natwest. the worst that can happen if you ask for compensation is you won't get any!

You can complain in the branch, by letter or phone. tis up to you!

stclair

This guide may help you decide which is the best cause of action to take.

https://www.natwest.com/secure/global/contact_us/complaints_procedure.htm

natweststaffmember

I would suggest time and inconvenience, plus the cost of any phone calls to sort this out. Furthermore, perhaps a letter of apology since your account was effectively put on hold. If they have withdrawn the overdraft as a result of thinking you were your brother then they need to make sure it is back to the same level should this not have happened. At the end of the day it is bank error.

Extant

You haven't suffered any financial loss, so any compensation is going to be a gesture of goodwill. I'd suggest that they pay you for your time and a small token amount for your inconvenience. Time is £10 an hour, inconvenience £30 in this case.

iamassault

Thanks for the replies!

Regarding the assumption that withdrawing my overdraft would put me in exactly the same position... I think this isn't true. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if my overdraft were to be withdrawn then I assume I would be given clear warning about this and could have taken actions to stop anything negative happening (ie depositing money). Am I right? I was given the overdraft about 10 years ago so I can't remember the exact wording of the conditions right now... so sorry if I'm completely wrong!

What's happened with my account is that it was put on hold with absolutely no notice, completely caused by mistakes made by the bank. I wasn't warned about it, and wasn't even informed. Even if I paid a million pounds into the account tomorrow, I wouldn't be able to use it at this point. It's literally only because I've had the foresight not to manage all of my finances via one institution that I'm able to pay any of my bills at all. I actually had a couple of deposits go into that account (I use it for PayPal and Google Adsense deposits, and to pay bills), but have obviously not been able to use them, so the money has gone into some sort of NatWest black hole.
I'm obviously not looking for some huge payout in compensation, but I do think I deserve something for the bother that they have put me through, at least as a gesture, or I see absolutely no reason in holding onto my NatWest account. I've been in good standing with NatWest for over 20 years now, and I think that a simple apology just won't be enough to keep me at the bank. I think like natweststaffmember says, I at least want some compensation for my time and effort. If they do fix it this week, I will have had no access to my account for a month, and will have been hugely inconvenienced, not to mention the embarrassment of having to call companies to explain why my direct debits were cancelled, and why they couldn't charge my bank card.

As for complaining, I'd rather do it by writing so that I have a record of anything that is said. Since agreeing things with credit card companies around 10 years ago and having them deny everything said to me on the phone, I've opted to get everything in writing so I have proof of what was said. Should I write directly to my bank manager (as per the link that stclair posted), or should I write to the generic NatWest complaints department?

Thanks again to everyone who is taking the time to read, and everyone's replies. Very helpful!

Just a quick edit to avoid double posting...

BarclaysManager wrote: »

You haven't suffered any financial loss, so any compensation is going to be a gesture of goodwill. I'd suggest that they pay you for your time and a small token amount for your inconvenience. Time is £10 an hour, inconvenience £30 in this case.

I narrowly missed any financial loss. If I didn't have other bank accounts, and hadn't figured out something was wrong with my account, then I would have incurred charges with a few different companies for late payments, and potentially would have had some things cut off.

natweststaffmember

I think everyone is saying that the account should be put back in the position it was prior to them putting it on hold. Furthermore, the bank does not need to give notice to do this. Telling you they are going to do this when you might withdraw everything from the account kinda gets rid of the whole exercise and if it was money laundering they are then tipping you off.
I do agree with everything in writing though.

stclair

You need to try and let the branch resolve your issue first before you contact the customer relations unit. Any issues passed the customer relations unit before the branch has had time to resolve it for you will just get sent back to your branch anyway.

So to avoid delays in your letter going round the houses within natwest contact your branch first if no joy then contact the customer relations unit. Plus make sure everything is in writing as suggested by natweststaffmember as if it goes as far as the Financial Ombudsman you have everything on paper which you can then sent to them. I would also suggest if you call telephone banking to make any queries make sure you ask for the call reference number before you end the call.

jonesMUFCforever

Overdrafts are repayable on demand so no you may not get any advance warning.

iamassault

Thanks for the replies again.

Of course, I was going to wait for the account to be sorted out before writing to them. I have been told that the overdraft should be reinstated as it was before this happened, but I have yet to see if this is true or not. I will be writing to them after everything is "back to normal".

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Furthermore, the bank does not need to give notice to do this. Telling you they are going to do this when you might withdraw everything from the account kinda gets rid of the whole exercise and if it was money laundering they are then tipping you off.

I'm not sure if I understand you. Money laundering? Bit of an extreme example lol. I've been using this account for over 20 years, had the overdraft for around 10 years, and use it regularly to pay all my bills. It's not always dipped into the overdraft either, it just happened to be right now. Also, from reading the T&C on the NatWest site, they state that they give 30 days notice if they are to withdraw your overdraft, besides in suspicious circumstances or if you look like you will not be able to pay, neither of which I assume should apply to someone that has had no problems with their account in over 20 years.

Just to clarify, my account was mistakingly flagged as belonging to a family member whose account was put on hold due to payment plans in place to pay back an unarranged overdraft. There was nothing wrong with my account (as far as I know, and as far as the staff in the bank could find out), and I was not informed (either by writing or by telephone) that there was to be any restrictions on my account or that my overdraft would be withdrawn from me.

I'm currently getting my letter together, but I was just unsure as to what I should be asking for. It seemed pointless to just be looking for an apology, since an apology (although nice) doesn't help me at all. I'm still also unsure as to how I should word any request for financial compensation, if I choose this route. Could anyone suggest a way to slip this into the letter?

Thanks again for everyone's time!