Royal Bank of Scotland

Eels100

:mad:

I have banked with the RBoS for over 7 years now and find their accounts and phone/internet services fantastic. As a graduate I operate a large overdraft from my student days which is reviewed annually.

This time last year I went to take money out of a cashpoint on a Friday night, because we had a guest for the weekend and we were going out. But my account had been frozen due to an 'unarranged' overdraft. It was a long and embrassing wait until the Monday when I could get to my branch to complain. It was their mistake (they had never sent me a letter to make the annual re-arrangement, so their system assumed my borrowing was unauthorised). They eventually sorted it out, with a few minor errors along the way, and all was uneventful until now.

6 weeks ago I telephoned my branch to make sure they had a note of my details and for reassurance that this wouldn't happen again this year. No problems at all, I was told, all in hand. I also mentioned this to the phone banking service last week when I called about another matter. No problem, don't worry, your overdraft is fine. Check with your branch if you're concerned.

Silly me didn't have time to check with my branch, but oh how I regret this, because last night I went to the cashpoint to withdraw some cash as we have my boyfriend's family staying this weekend and were going for a meal - yep, you guessed it, no arranged overdraft facility.

There are only a Lloyd's TSB and a BoS to choose from other than the Royal here, and I have reasons to avoid both of these, but I am driven half mad by this. Would anyone recommend an online current account?

Astaroth

Why does your accounts overdraft have to be reviewed annually? Surely it is all controlled by the lending centre rather than the branch anyway? (I would be surprised if RBS didnt follow the lending centre model which it imposed on Natwest after it bought them.)

dwight-van-man

I used to work in an RBS branch a few years ago - my recal is a bit hazy but I seem to remember that the Student and Graduate accounts had some sort of indicator on them which suspended the automatic credit scoring system. This was to enable the standard student account overdraft to be applied, rather than what the system deemed available. IIRC, this indicator was left on when the student account converted to graduate to stop the system overriding the overdraft as the feeling was that graduate salries would not be sufficient to generate the same level of o/d on a standard account, hence the branch control and the annual review. This of course leaves you at the mercy of RBS's two cores of staff - the 17 year old school leavers and the 55 year old part timers who have no interest in their jobs other than chatting on the personal cash. Only advice I could offer the OP is to contact the branch manager - becasue they actually still have these and ask for a meeting...

Eels100

Thanks folks. Still seething but will go with the manager suggestion tomorrow!

regularsaver1

well yeah you should be informed - but that can get rid of your overdraft too - be careful with that

they don;'t have to give you one going forward

JasonW_2

My sis had massive probs with RBS over the last year or so. She was paid £1600 compensation from them for reincarnating a very old loan, and taking payments from someone elses bank account for it, which obviously that person asked !!!!!! they were doing, so they started taking payments from sis's back with no notice at all, 6 months worth of payments on an old loan!! Then they wrote to her, and sent legal paperwork to reposess her house she had just moved into (mortgage with them as well, and they decided they didnt want her as a customer which Im not sure of their logic on that one trying to end a mortgage agreement with no notice, and no request for payment!)

2 years later, and almost at the end of her fixed rate mortgage with them, they did the same again, this time the same loan, but an old bank account was suddenly re-opened, and payments taken from there, which clearly the balance was £0 and then she got hit with bank charges..... To shorten this story, just a couple of weeks ago, she got £1500 compensation and 2 months worth of mortgage payments paid off, basically ending her fixed rate and long relationship with them, so in total just over £4 compensation in cash for making a total !!!!!! of her accounts. They have sorted out her credit report as well, which was in a bit of a state. She was very upset through a lot of the times, especially trying to get someone to listen to her as it was a case of computer says no.

Basically - MUPPETS I would never touch them apart from my CC with mint that I will keep as long as it treats me well

J

Eels100

An update -

Went into branch on Monday and got a lot of blank faces but apparently it was 'a glitch in the system' <snort> but they did have my account up and running within 24 hours of me complaining. I asked politely that they ensure I was not charged for this (because last time they really tried it on with charges) and I didn't expect to have to pay for their mistake.

Got letter on Tuesday from Customer Services in response to my email complaint, promising to be in touch before the 31st July.

Got letter this morning informing me of my £30 bank charge for an unarranged overdraft.

Will return to branch when I get a chance ...

*seethe*

As far as them taking the overdraft away from me, they're welcome to - provided they inform me they are doing so I will close up the account and go in an instant. My problem is that they're taking it away from me without telling me, then charging me for it!

grex9101

Eels100 wrote:

Would anyone recommend an online current account?

In my opinion, FirstDirect ROCKS!!!!

and you'll probably get cashback through quidco as a new cust...

hth

Sweet_Pea_2

Have recently changed to Co-Op, we used to be Natwest customers for fifteen years but since they were taken over by RBS things have gone rapidly downhill.
We have no Co-Op branch by us so opened the account and do most things online. They have been absolutely first class so far, no glitches at all. If I need to actually visit a branch I use the post office for counter services. The Post Office staff are much friendlier and more helpful than bank staff imo, they are quicker and actually know what they are doing. You can also do loads of other stuff at the post office at the same time. (As an added bonus, the Co-Op are also very green and ethical)

gazza975526570

one advantage of rbs is they only use uk based call centres and have made commitments to close no branches

devild_2

gazza975526570 wrote:

one advantage of rbs is they only use uk based call centres and have made commitments to close no branches

other than the ones they have already closed!!