Nat West - trying to close an account...

Diddley_Squat

Hello

First time poster so please be gentle with me.

I'm posting on behalf of my son who is having problems in trying to get an account closed with Nat West.

He has had the account since being in school (they opened it for him as he has disabilities) and all was fine until last June when we got a letter saying due to his age (19) that account was no longer available and so they were going to change it to a Card Plus a/c. As he doesn't like an account where you could go overdrawn and have overdraft facilities we requested that the account be changed to a Step Account INSTEAD.

We got all the info through for the Step and thought all was fine and we transferred the one DD he had on the original account to the Step so the balance on the Card Plus was at zero.

My son recently told me that he has been getting charged for the zero balance at the end of every month since July and because he didn't know what to do he has been transferring money in order to clear it.

We both went into the branch and spoke to a lady on the counter. We told her about the charges and that we asked for the account to be closed. She said they would ring back the next day which they did and they asked us for proof that we asked for the account to be closed. Unfortunately it is only my word against theirs regarding this as I spoke to a gentlemen on the telephone about it once my son decided he wanted to change the account to the Step. We were then told to write a letter asking for the account to be closed. This we did and I personally handed the letter in to the branch to a lady (I have her name) and I was told they would be in touch by the end of that week (I gave her my contact details). We have not heard anything and so with having heard good things about this site I thought I would join and ask for help and advice. Like I say this was 2 weeks ago and he has now been charged once again so has an overdrawn balance on the Card Plus. I've told him not to pay it this time as they have had two weeks to close it down, I mean how long do they need just to close one account??? :mad::mad::mad:

I hope this makes sense. Sorry for the long post, any help would be greatly appreciated.

natweststaffmember

Diddley_Squat wrote: »

Hello

First time poster so please be gentle with me.

I'm posting on behalf of my son who is having problems in trying to get an account closed with Nat West.

He has had the account since being in school (they opened it for him as he has disabilities) and all was fine until last June when we got a letter saying due to his age (19) that account was no longer available and so they were going to change it to a Card Plus a/c. As he doesn't like an account where you could go overdrawn and have overdraft facilities we requested that the account be changed to a Step Account INSTEAD.
Sounds like Card plus to Current plus to be honest with you.
We got all the info through for the Step and thought all was fine and we transferred the one DD he had on the original account to the Step so the balance on the Card Plus was at zero.
Step account would be a separate account.
My son recently told me that he has been getting charged for the zero balance at the end of every month since July and because he didn't know what to do he has been transferring money in order to clear it.
Can you clarify what the charges are for? Is it a £6.95 charge cos I might just know what it is and how to approach this specific case?
We both went into the branch and spoke to a lady on the counter. We told her about the charges and that we asked for the account to be closed. She said they would ring back the next day which they did and they asked us for proof that we asked for the account to be closed. Unfortunately it is only my word against theirs regarding this as I spoke to a gentlemen on the telephone about it once my son decided he wanted to change the account to the Step. We were then told to write a letter asking for the account to be closed. This we did and I personally handed the letter in to the branch to a lady (I have her name) and I was told they would be in touch by the end of that week (I gave her my contact details). We have not heard anything and so with having heard good things about this site I thought I would join and ask for help and advice. Like I say this was 2 weeks ago and he has now been charged once again so has an overdrawn balance on the Card Plus. I've told him not to pay it this time as they have had two weeks to close it down, I mean how long do they need just to close one account??? :mad::mad::mad:
Card plus account is exempt from charges for going overdrawn so I think you need to find out what the type of account is. I think he has a step account(possible Advantage Blue and a Current Plus account)
I hope this makes sense. Sorry for the long post, any help would be greatly appreciated.

It makes sense and when you clarify the points above, I think you may well have an argument for the bank.

Diddley_Squat

Hello natweststaffmember

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Have looked on past statements and yes it went from a Card Plus to a Current Plus account but when I rang to ask them to change it to a Step instead the guy I spoke to didn't tell me that it would be a separate account as we wanted the Step in place of the Current Plus.

On the statement with zero balance he gets charged £20 at the end of each month and that is just for charges as it says this on his statement.

After he got the letter saying about the change of account to Current Plus we looked at it on the Nat West site and it mentioned about overdraft and and charges for going overdrawn which is why we wanted the Step.

So sorry if I have just repeated myself from my first post I don't know what to do next. Please help!!

natweststaffmember

Diddley_Squat wrote: »

Hello natweststaffmember

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Have looked on past statements and yes it went from a Card Plus to a Current Plus account but when I rang to ask them to change it to a Step instead the guy I spoke to didn't tell me that it would be a separate account as we wanted the Step in place of the Current Plus.

On the statement with zero balance he gets charged £20 at the end of each month and that is just for charges as it says this on his statement.

After he got the letter saying about the change of account to Current Plus we looked at it on the Nat West site and it mentioned about overdraft and and charges for going overdrawn which is why we wanted the Step.

So sorry if I have just repeated myself from my first post I don't know what to do next. Please help!!

I think you need to look closely at your son's statement to see exactly what triggered the account to go over the limit because the £20 charge is a maintenance charge. I personally think that if the branch decline it that you need to add more details about your son and what he wanted and what he was told. Tell them that you are distraught as to how this occurred and that you simply want the current plus account closed and charges refunded and that you just want the step account to remain open.

Diddley_Squat

Hello

Just an update to say that the currant plus account has now been closed but we failed to get any of the charges reimbursed. My son was just happy to finally have the account closed so we are leaving it as that. We went into another branch and spoke to the manager there who was a little bemused as to why the branch my son is with wouldn't close the account as he did it there and then, still it's sorted now.

Thank you so much natweststaffmember for your help.