£5 overdrawn = £104 in charges

ssray

I went overdrawn by £2.25(my acct)on one account and £2.70 (joint acc)on the same day.
below is the reply from natwest-anything i can do?

Dear Mr Thornton

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am sorry to learn that you are unhappy with the fees due to be debited from your accounts.

Account ending *** (case reference number C&Q **********)
£28 due 3 July
£30 due 3 July
Account ending *** (case reference number C&Q *********)
£38 due 10 July

In view of your comments, I feel it is worth clarifying our charging policy. The Terms and Conditions for operating an account with us place the responsibility on the customer to ensure that they have sufficient cleared funds available in their account prior to making withdrawals, including the presentation of direct debits and standing orders. We are unable to pay items in anticipation of funds due and in this respect covering funds should be deposited by the close of business the working weekday before items are presented.
The Maintenance Fee of £28 is applicable per charging period, regardless of how many days the account is overdrawn. It is payable if an account goes overdrawn, without prior arrangement of an overdraft facility, or if an account goes in excess of an agreed limit and is not adjusted the same day. A pre-advised via a statement will be sent out before the charge is debited.
As from 4 April 2009, we have been aligning your charging period with the period covered by your monthly statement. Your charging period will now end on your statement date. (Please note that your statement date is the date we issue your statement to you and is not the date you receive your statement).
The dates on which we will deduct any interest, Maintenance Charges and Advantage Banking subscriptions fees accrued on your account will have also changed. These charges will be debited from your account 21 days after the charging period in which they were incurred (or on the next business day if this is a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday).
For the first month following the change you may be charged any debit interest, Maintenance Charge and Advantage Banking subscription fee (if payable by you) earlier or later in the month than usual.
From 1 June changes have been put in place on the way we deduct any Paid Referral Fees, Guaranteed Card Payment Fees and Unpaid Item Fees from your account.
Notification of the above changes has previously been sent out.
I would stress it is your responsibility to ensure there are sufficient cleared funds in your account to meet any payments due to be debited. Having reviewed your account due to no bank error I am unable to refund / waive these charges.
While I realise that my reply will disappoint you, I hope I have clarified our position.
So that you know how we deal with complaints, I have enclosed our leaflet 'Customer Complaints - Making Things Better'. If you believe that we have not investigated properly or acted fairly, you have the right to refer to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You can do this if we have not been able to reach an agreement by 21 August which is eight weeks after you first contacted us. The Ombudsman would then assess whether to check the Bank's own investigation and, if they decided to, would work with you and us to reach a conclusion. However, the quickest and most direct course would be to e-mail me at [EMAIL="Customer.relations@natwest.com"]Customer.relations@natwest.com[/EMAIL] if there is any problem.
Otherwise, there is nothing you need to do. If I have not heard back from you by 28 August, I will close our file. Whatever you decide, I am very sorry that you needed to contact us in the first place and I am grateful to you for bringing this to our attention.
Regards
Amanda Harris
Customer Relations
[EMAIL="customer.relations@natwest.com"]customer.relations@natwest.com[/EMAIL]

From: ******[mailto:************]
Sent: 26 June 2009 13:37
To: ~ NatWest CRU
Subject: Charges

Hi, I have just spoken to Mohamed in your call center- re accts no`s ******** sort code******and ******** sort code
Charges of £28 and £38 have been raised to be taken from my account (********) on the 3rd july, I understand that banks have to charge to make money but I will be charged £66 for going over my overdraft by £2.25-mohamed also said that as I had had a `godwill` charge dropped in 2007 there would never be another one on this account, Would you be prepared to reconsider this?
This account is the one I use for personal-not household money, I take the bare minimum each month-£250-£66 of this would mean I would possibly be unable to get to work leaving myself and my family in further trouble.

The £38 pounds charge on account no ********** is also for going overdrawn by £2.70- I also consider this unfair and request it is withdrawn.

Thank you

Ray Thornton

natweststaffmember

I would agree with that email and the facts are correct. Had I been working for the bank that would have been my response, ie decline the refund as there was no bank error and there had been a previous goodwill payment refunded to the account.

I think you need to start the reclaims process as outline here and remove your contact details from the above post

ssray

Thanks for that, details removed
Ray