Natwest have just pulled my offset credit line

cazuk

I have a foundations mortgage with natwest for which I had built up a large credit balance which I am currently drawing down against building work that I'm having done. I have recieved a letter today from Natwest saying that with immediate effect they have reduced my credit line to match my current outstanding balance. I have commitments to suppliers over the couple of months for which I now cannot pay. Speaking to Natwest they have referred me to their appeals division whereby I have to now produce invoices and proof of these commitments so they can decide whether to honour or not. Anything due in more than 4 weeks will be offered to me against a "new" product. I have been a customer for natwest for over 20 years and have never missed payments etc. Not sure what I'm asking from the good folks out there just need to vent.

Scrooge is alive and well............

Cannon_Fodder

Pundit on Jeremy Vine, trying to defend the Bankers bonus situation, saying how it was complicated (and therefore worthy of exceptional recompense) for them to take some peoples short term deposits and turn them into other peoples long-term loans..."they don't just withdraw loans, you know"...

Struck me at the time, that some businesses might argue with that viewpoint.

Only, as per your post, they also haven't thought through some residential products either, these genuises who the country cannot afford to lose.

Hope you can get it sorted.

And the bankers get windfall taxed.

cazuk

Thanks for the reply Cannon Fodder - I think the reason I wanted to post this was because I wanted to make people aware that it really doesn't appear to matter what your circumstances are. I am fortunate to have a top credit rating plus a LTV of 50% but this is still not stopping natwest from pulling a mortgage agreement that has been in place for 10 years!

russp

Cazuk

This has also happened to me today. I have tried to explain to the bank thats its for my tax and vat bill but all they wanted to do was offer me a new mortgage at a higher rate. I have got in touch with the ombusman today and started the complaints procedure. they are hiding behind a clause in the t&cs but when I tried to move last year they refused to extend this mortgage saying that as the product was no longer available. I have tried always today but got nowhere. I am stunned that the bank can treat us like this with no notice or interest in our own personal financial commitments. I have requested the signed agreement and t&cs from the bank along with a copy of the recording of our conversations today as one of the line mangers told me that if i started a complaint they would remove the other product offer. Just hope they dont edit it before giving it to me. I have banked with natwest for 20+ years, I am stunned that natwest are acting like this against us.

cazuk

Russp

When I spoke to them today I got the impression that this is a blanket move that they have done across the board. I've dug out my copy of the T&Cs and the following sections I believe are they ones that they are hiding behind

Sec 3 f - we reserve the right to increase or decrease the amount of the total credit at anytime if we reasonably think this is necessary. and sec 3 g - we will review the operation of your account and the total credit at least annually. We will notify you as soon as is reasonably practicable if we decided to increase or decrease the total credit following a review

NotNatWest

Dear Cazuk, Russp,

We are in exactly the same position. When we spoke to NatWest today, we managed (after twenty minutes) to lodge a complaint. This complaint will go through a formal process, and if we are not happy with the outcome (which we don't expect to be) we can refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman. Our grounds are that what is 'reasonable' in sec 3F may be defined in a court of law as that which 'the man-on-the-street would find reasonable' and we do not believe that such a person would consider a unilateral 70% reduction in our credit line 'reasonable' (we used this facility to manage the cash flow of our small business). The view of the 'the man-on-the-street'is particularly pertinent given the current public opinion of the banking system and its senior management.

This is not legal advice, but hope it may be of some help.

russp

Thats what i was told today. I asked though why we were given no notice to this. They do not have to!! It happened to me last year aswell but we came to an agreement over the phone as they wrote to me asking to call due to a review. I have been told its a board desicion and no one will re-instate the facility. I am not going down quielty though. I spoke to my account manager today, I think based on your story we might share the same guy, he agreed to assist where he can and offered an instant high overdraft, but at the O/D rates i feel really cheated by natwest now. Fully hacked off with the whole day. I have wrote a stinking letter to the complaints dept, dont expect much in a response though.

russp

well thats three of us on here, maybe we can stand against these actions as one. A i also run a small business. Unless I accept there alternative loyalty mortgage (higher rates and not fixed for term off course) then my business might not survive. the VAT and TAX man really dont care about my cashflow problems now caused by crapwest

NotNatWest

Hi Russp,

We do not have a NatWest Account Manager, we asked for a face to face meeting, but were told to just go to the nearest NatWest Branch and speak to a clerk who would not be able to help us. We were, like you, told that this decision would not be reversed, but we pointed out that there is the facility in clause 3F to do so. We should stick together on this one.

Regards

cazuk

Russp, notnatwest,

I'm trying to get an appointment with my account manager tomorrow plus also faxing invoices etc to their appeals team. I'll post with any more info once I get it.

Cheers

NotNatWest

This is a copy of a letter sent to the Trouble Shooter at The Times Online, you may also wish to contact them ..... see if they will run with the story.

We have a NatWest Flexible Mortgage Account, where the interest is set at 1% above Bank Base Rate for the entire life of the Mortgage. The Mortgage was sold as offering easy access to borrowing, since the credit limit is set at the outset, with no need for special arrangements to borrow more.

We have stuck with this facility through periods of high interest rates (when our neighbours were enjoying the benefit of fixed rates) because we wanted to manage the interest risk, rather than allow the bank to charge us a premium for doing so. We have met all minimum monthly payments and have a flawless payment record with NatWest.

Today we received a letter (like many other Foundations Mortgage Account Holders) advising us that our maximum borrowing had been unilaterally amended downwards to £10,000 over our current loan outstanding. We had previously been able to borrow up to 90% of the property value (£xxx,000) and to raise the borrowing back up to that level at any time during the life of the mortgage.

We had transfered our savings into this Mortgage Account on a temporary basis to reduce our mortgage costs, safe in the knowledge that we could withdraw these savings at any time, at no cost. Our savings are now illiquid, locked into our Property.

The 'product' was sold as a premium product, initially only available to (high net worth) premier customers - we understand that other customers have put aside funds for VAT / TAX and other business expenses and are faced overnight with severe cash flow difficulties - so much for the Bank honouring the Governments commitment to make finance available for small business (did I forget, we tax payers have majority ownership of the Bank?)

We have lodged a complaint with NatWest (as have fellow customers - see moneysavingexpert web site), however, we were told that the decision was taken by the Board and that there is nothing we can do about it.

We believe that NatWest have acted
(i) Unreasonably,
(ii) Against the spirit of the agreement and
(iii) In contradiction of the sales advice given to us (see company press release at worldwideweb dot prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=20918 for details.)

Can you help us in this matter?