Nat West Bank charges reclaiming

InDeepDebt

Hi all

A little background first.

I have a second current account (with the Nat West) - this was my usual account but then I got a job with a bank and I had to open a current account with them.

Right, my NatWest account has a £900 overdraft and the balance has always been around about that limit (usually £800 - £900 od). I hardly use the account and generally pay about a tenner a month into it otherwise the bank gets a bit annoyed with me.

Over the years I have gone overdrawn by a few pounds every few months and have ended up paying bank charges. I always bring my account back into order.

About six months (maybe more) ago, the balance was at about £890 od. I've sort of buried my head in the sand and not opened any statements for a while. The last one that I opened a couple of months ago had the balance at £1400 od - with this being difference between the initial balance of £890 od being made of charges and interest. At no time over the last six months have I had a letter advising me of the situation.

I'm currently sorting out stuff on a self administered DMP. Most creditors have accepted my offers, but I haven't got around to NatWest yet.

Anyhow, NatWest is next on my list. I was going to simply write to them advising that I am in financial hardship and please stop any further bank charges and reduce/stop interest. I then noticed that certain people can (maybe) claim back bank charges.

My wife and I are in Dire Straits with our finances. £69k of unsecured debt and, after cutting back on everything, we have £280 a month to pay this off - this amount will gradually go up over the next four years though to almost £800 spare. The NatWest overdraft of £1400 of £69k is about 2% though so if I can write off as much as possible, that would be a good thing.

If you haven't fallen asleep - what's the best way of tackling NatWest to a) Stop further charges; and b) claim back existing charges.

I've had the account about 15 years - the last 12 years of which it's been fairly dormant - just overdrawn.

Cheers

Jim

EDIT

I did read the claiming back bank charges step by step link http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#reclaim

but I haven't advised the bank of my hardship yet.

WASHER

Jim, I personally don't hold out much hope of getting any of my bank charges back. You can try but it can be a long winded process and no guarantees.

You could ask the bank to freeze interest, they may ask you for an SOA so they can see what you have/haven't got each month.

You may get more responses on this, if you posted this on the bank charges board.

WASHER.x.

InDeepDebt

^^

Cheers. Will post there now.

In fact, will go and have a trawl of that forum now.