!!!!!! Turpin alive and well! Works for Natwest!

miket1964

Here's a good one - wonder if anyone else has had this done to them by their bank.

Checking through my bank statement and noted that we had £98.00 in charges, now times are very tight at the moment and we are relying on our OD heavily.

So called them and asked to explain the charge.

The Natwest's reply was that was were paying for goods in a supermarket, which would have taken us over the OD limit, so to save our embarrassment, they let the transaction go through, instead of declining the card. Something they have never done before.
The charge for this £70.00
The other £28.00 charge was for going over our agreed overdraft!!!
I KID YOU NOT.
To say I was livid was an understatement, I told them that they should have declined the transaction, that was my problem and being a little embarrassed was a dam site cheaper than £100.
The Natwest person agreed, I asked for the charges back as this was a service I had not been notified off or had been done before, as cards has always been declined.
Natwest would not return the charges!!!!
Personally I think this was a very cynical ploy to extract more charges from us at a time when we need help.
Was thinking of complaining, but who to?
Regards

Lokolo

It wouldn't have been a £70 charge. It would have been a number of charges. I suspect 2x £35 charges. (natweststaffmember....)

But you would think one would know their bank balance before going shopping wouldn't you....

mandi

miket1964 wrote: »

Here's a good one - wonder if anyone else has had this done to them by their bank.

Checking through my bank statement and noted that we had £98.00 in charges, now times are very tight at the moment and we are relying on our OD heavily.

So called them and asked to explain the charge.

The Natwest's reply was that was were paying for goods in a supermarket, which would have taken us over the OD limit, so to save our embarrassment, they let the transaction go through, instead of declining the card.

So was someone actually watching your transaction .... I find this VERY VERY odd

stclair

Its nowt to do with the bank its more to do with the retailer and the floor limit scenario.

Not every transaction gets checked to see if there are available funds in the account.

IE: If a store has a floor limit of £30.00, a purchase costing £29.99 (or less) would not need to be authorised by the customer's bank. However, a transaction of £30.00 (or more) would require authorisation to confirm that the customer has the necessary funds available in their bank account.

Laurenbelle

Yeah thats what they do at the bank! They have a whole team devoted to watching those people who are in debt and battling and choose an oppertune moment to pounce on them with charges! It is the department right next to the one filled with personal account manager who are there to make sure people that don't keep an eye on their don't go over their overdraft. Crazy.

noh

You have been charged 2 x £35 Guarateed Card payment fees plus a £28 Monthly maintenance charge.
If the payments had been refused, as you seem to prefer, you would have been charged 2 x £38 Unpaid item fees.

Natwests fees and charges are here http://www.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/g6/rates-charges.ashx#charges

If you had made yourself familiar with the T+Cs of your account these charges wouldn't have come as a surprise.

miket1964

Looks like noh and Lokolo have told me!!!
Would rather they declined the card and not get charged. If there are no funds!!!
Still thinks a very underhand thing to do, never done this before, so no consistency.
Which is my point.

jambosans

miket1964 wrote: »

Looks like noh and Lokolo have told me!!!
Would rather they declined the card and not get charged. If there are no funds!!!
Still thinks a very underhand thing to do, never done this before, so no consistency.
Which is my point.

You need to realise this is not something unique to NatWest, it is to do with the way the UK debit card system works. So that's everyone from the merchant, bank and Visa/ Meastro/ etc. There's nothing underhand about it, you just have to learn to keep an eye on your account and make sure you always have funds to cover any debit card payments.

opinions4u

miket1964 wrote: »

Here's a good one - wonder if anyone else has had this done to them by their bank.

Most people who don't keep an eye on their bank account and spend too much get themselves charged. It's always avoidable.

I asked for the charges back as this was a service I had not been notified of

Sorry, but those leaflets that they send you with statements every few months that say "terms and conditions" and "account fees and charges" are how they told you.

Was thinking of complaining, but who to?

Try this linky

I still think keeping an eye on your account and spending less than you have in it is the best approach though.

stclair

Theres nothing to complain about though.

The bank will just say its your responsibility to check the available funds on your account.

dunstonh

Would rather they declined the card and not get charged. If there are no funds!!!

You are responsible for your spending and knowing how much you have to spend. Not the bank.

If you dont think you can take on that responsibility then hand your debit card back and stick to using a cashpoint in future.