Snowballed natwest charges, from £2 -> £470

JohnRobert

About 5.5 years ago, when I was 18, young and crazy, I had a natwest bank account, of which I simply forgot about and left £2 over drawn (with no overdraft facility). Since then, five and a half years have past, I've moved home several times and never given it a thought, then bam! On the 1st July 2006 I get a red letter from debt collectors to the tune of £470.74.

Worried, I went straight down to Natwest who delayed the debt collectors by 28 days and ordered me some statements so that I could see what is going on. I have now finally recieved half of the statements and I'm told that the others are on their way.

Now, many friends and family members have offered various advice ranging from 'just pay the debt' to 'how dare they, let's go to the news papers'. I have no idea what the best course of action is. I only have two goals:
1. To definitely not have to pay more than £470.74
2. To try and get away with paying as little as possible.

I'm not a wealthy person, but I can borrow the money of a parent (interest free) to pay the debt off.

I was wondering if anyone here had more of a clue than I did. For example, if it went to court, would I win or lose? I've no idea! It does seem a little harsh to me that £2 or so of debt could spiral all the way up to half a grand, but would a judge see it like that, or would my 'ignorance' warrant it as I never bothered to close my natwest accout, pay off the £2 of debt or even notify them of my change of address.

Either way, I'm running out of time!
Thanks in advance,
John.

Dr.Shoe_2

It would appear that they have been levying charges and penalties which are actaully illegal.

Look at:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/sitemap.php

They give all the information you need to claim them back including the interest. You will need to pay the two quid though!

Plutos_2

This is absolutely shocking - a world away from most of us who have run up this amount by going over our overdrafts time and time again.

You've obviously been into the branch to speak to someone. Have you rang to speak to the manager? This must be the first step to see if they will behave reasonably.

Have you been onto the consumer action group - go to consumeractiongroup.com and register in the forums section. Scroll down to the bank charges action group and post your situation in the Natwest section. There are people on there who will instruct you (better than I can) who to write too next. I've seen a couple of posts that say the head of RBS group likes to read all complaints addressed to him personally - if you write a reasonable letter explaining the situation, adding that if it is not resolved promptly and satisfactorally you'll be forced to

1) Claim the fees back via the courts anyway as they are illegal. See the CAG for full instructions as to how to do this.
2) Complain to the Banking Code Standards Board and the OFT for a breach of the Consumer Credit Act by RBS (their terms and conditions are disproportionate and unenforcable)
3) draw the behavior to the attention of the general public becuase it is clearly in the public interest to disclose Natwest's fee policy, by approaching the personal finance media (start with thisismoney.co.uk for example as they are running an anti-fees campaign with the Daily mail). The £2 into £470 will make a great story.

This illustrates the anti fee case so well - £2 simply cannot represent any justifiable cost to them, and has certainally not cost them £470.

JohnRobert wrote:

About 5.5 years ago, when I was 18, young and crazy, I had a natwest bank account, of which I simply forgot about and left £2 over drawn (with no overdraft facility). Since then, five and a half years have past, I've moved home several times and never given it a thought, then bam! On the 1st July 2006 I get a red letter from debt collectors to the tune of £470.74.

Worried, I went straight down to Natwest who delayed the debt collectors by 28 days and ordered me some statements so that I could see what is going on. I have now finally recieved half of the statements and I'm told that the others are on their way.

Now, many friends and family members have offered various advice ranging from 'just pay the debt' to 'how dare they, let's go to the news papers'. I have no idea what the best course of action is. I only have two goals:
1. To definitely not have to pay more than £470.74
2. To try and get away with paying as little as possible.

I'm not a wealthy person, but I can borrow the money of a parent (interest free) to pay the debt off.

I was wondering if anyone here had more of a clue than I did. For example, if it went to court, would I win or lose? I've no idea! It does seem a little harsh to me that £2 or so of debt could spiral all the way up to half a grand, but would a judge see it like that, or would my 'ignorance' warrant it as I never bothered to close my natwest accout, pay off the £2 of debt or even notify them of my change of address.

Either way, I'm running out of time!
Thanks in advance,
John.

JohnRobert

Thanks guys/girls! I didn't know where to start, but this consumer action group sounds good.

My mum suggested looking on this site actually.. good ol' mum

I'll let you know what happens.
John

JohnRobert

I GOT OUT OF THIS DEBT!!! (With a bit of hastle, but I no longer owe a penny)

Read success story below:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/27582-474-04-debt-collectors.html#post214779

:money: Thanks Martin!