NatWest Show 2 Fingers To The OFT

MatthewF31

Hello

A couple of months ago i didnt get a statement from NatWest regarding my credit card, i realised a couple of days late and got hit with a £25 penalty.

Phoned last month and explained the situation and was told that i would receive a credit for the £25 and a copy statement for my records - never received this.

Got my April statement today and there was no credit for the late payment fee. Phoned them again and was told that there was nothing on the records to indicate that i had even contacted them the month before so i explained the situation again and was told there was no way that they would refund the fee. Even after i quoted the OFT's recent ruling that anything over £12 would be challenged in the courts they were not budging an inch and i spoke to 3 different people.

So i have now closed my account, which they were more than happy to do without any attempt to retain my custom - simply told me to cut up the card and that was that.

I have always known NatWest CS to be pretty dire from my experiences as an ex-current account holder but the complete F*** You attitude they have now is unbelievable.

I await the final OFT deadline before i decide whether or not to try and get my £25 back but i am stunned by the contempt NatWest have for their customers.

Matthew

The_Boss

In my experience NatWest are brilliant and always have been. To be honest, I find it harsh that one late payment has been enforced this harshly. But they do have account terms and conditions that should be stuck to and are within their rights to enforce a late payment charge.

MatthewF31

Yes - but the Ts&Cs regarding Penalty Charges have been declared illegal by the OFT. I would have accepted the charge to be reduced to £12 as the OFT ruled but they were not interested.

Matthew

mr_fishbulb

I used to use Natwest when I was younger and had a student account with them. When I asked them for an overdraft they asked me to fill in all these budget planning forms for a short-term overdraft. I told them that HSBC offer an instant overdraft for the whole time you are a student and Natwest basically said I was lying about the HSBC offer. So I closed the Natwest one and got an HSBC one with, supprise supprise, an instant overdraft.

So long Natwest. Not coming back to you again.

The_Boss

MatthewF31 wrote:

Yes - but the Ts&Cs regarding Penalty Charges have been declared illegal by the OFT. I would have accepted the charge to be reduced to £12 as the OFT ruled but they were not interested.

Matthew

They havent been declared illegal by the OFT - just the OFT think that £12 is a reasonable charge. I still think its harsh for a first time offender.

jetsetwilly_2

All banks are the same

zzzLazyDaisy

There has been a lot of discussion about this on other threads. These charges are more than a 'genuine pre-estimate of loss' and as such constitute a penalty charge, which is unlawful at common law. If the bank imposes the charge, in accordance with its terms and conditions, and the customer does not object, then that is fine. However if the customer objects, it is unlawful for the bank to enforce the charge. This is because even though the charge is stated in the T&C's a charge that is excessive in relation to the breach (ie the late payment or unauthorised overdraft) is a breach of the Unfair Contract Terms Act, and therefore unenforceable.

Put it this way - if I lent you some money and you signed a bit of paper saying that if you defaulted on the payments I could cut your little finger off, it would still be unlawful for me to enforce the penalty, even though it was in the contract that you had agreed to.

And in fact once the bank has imposed the penalty, the whole charge is unlawful and they cannot reduce it then to a lawful amount, they must simply refund the fee. So write to them quoting the OFT and UCTA, and ask for reimbursement of the fee failing which you will commence proceedings in the small claims court. Most organisations will refund the fee fairly promptly - they do not want this area of law testing in the courts.

Good Luck