Reclaiming from Natwest... help?

in_all_reality

I have been using Natwest for almost ten years now, last year due to too many direct debits I started incurring a lot of charges and with a low income and bills to pay these charges continued to mount aswell every month (not having enough money to cover two sets of charges in one month pushed me over my O/D limit and charged more).

This has ended up in me being forced to use another bank account just to have some money to my name, however this is starting to worry me now that they say I owe around £700.

I spoke to someone from Natwest a couple days ago who refused to help me reclaim my charges, when I asked for an address to write to regarding this again I was refused help.
Anyone else reclaimed from Natwest?
Any advice?

Premier_2

You say in your signature you "Wannabe debt free"

Debts don't disappear if you ignore them, they usually just grow bigger.

Why have you left it over a year before challenging the charges? On what grounds are you hoping to reclaim them?

in_all_reality

Hopefully under financial hardship?

Premier_2

Q. Does the hardship rule still apply? Can I still claim if I'm in hardship?
A. The FSA's hold on banks dealing with the reclaim has been lifted, so there is no longer a specific hardship rule.

However, under FSA regulations, banks must treat you fairly anyway and be considerate if you are in hardship. If you think that hasn't happened you can complain to the Ombudsman (see How to complain to the Ombudsman guide). Though if it's about bank charges specifically it's best to follow the information below.

...

Q. I haven't yet put in a claim, what should I do?

A. Hold off for the moment while we assess the new law of the land, and investigate the exact result. Ensure you're getting the free weekly e-mail where we will publish an update as soon as possible.

Q. How likely is it I will get my money back?

A. Much less likely than prior to the result, but not impossible. Still, the best thing to do is plan for getting nothing, but cross your fingers.

As we know many people would like a 'what's the chance' type answer, our instinctive guess is even with the new argument there is only a 10-20% chance of most people now getting charges back.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2009/11/bank-charges-qa-door-reopened-for-reclaimers