Has ANYONE managed to get Natwest to freeze interest?

hype

Hi,

An introduction:-

£44k of debt with 8 creditors. Got a reference number from payplan and wrote to all creditors and managed it all myself. Got all to arrange a £1 payment per month. Got 7 to freeze interest and charges.

The only one which states that they NEVER freeze interest is Natwest bank. They have agreed to stop charges but not interest. This is not a credit card but an overdraft.

Seems stupid that all other creditors comply but not Natwest? My debt will just increase with them. I pay in £1 but get £70 added in interest.

Has anyone had any luck getting their overdraft interest frozen? I heard this morning that new laws are to be put in place regarding lenders complying so wonder if it will help people like me.

Thanks

hype

WOW, I take it thats a no !

So what do people like Payplan or CCCS do when you have a DMP with them? Surely the debt does not keep mounting?

Someone must know.

magical28

Hi, sorry I can't answer your query with Nat West, I don't have debt with them but just wanted to say well done taking it all on yourself and acheiving what you have with your creditors.

I'm in the early stages with CCCS and hoping all my creditors will agree to freeze!

How much is your over-draft with Nat West? is there no option to borrow the money to pay it of from family or someone who won't charge you interest on the re-payments? otherwise, like you say, your debt with them will just keep rising.

dancingfairy

Well - nobody can force them to accept token payments - it is after all an informal agreement - whether you go through a reconised charity or not. However having a charity can help add weight to your case and try and negotitate on your behalf.
At the end of the day you will have to wait until either they accept or you are able to offer a full and final settlement or get rid of them some other way - perhaps your cirucmstances will change and you can up your payments, or when you have paid off the others then you can turn your attention to Natwest.
The other thing is Natwest might give up with you and decide they can't get any more money out of you and sell the debt on to a debt collector. The debt collector may be more willing to stop interest and charges.
At the moment though it's a waiting game I'm afraid.
df

hype

Thanks it was tough and some took quite a few letters / months to agree but they did. I've done everything by the book and it worked for me.

I have £4500 overdraft with Natwest. I've gone all the way with them to the point of their collections team agreeing with everything other than interest freezing. I have been told by Payplan that I can pay a debt in full and it is not classed as preferencial treatment so I would pay it if I could but do fear the other creditors would see that and change their minds.

I have equity in my house, enough to actually clear all the debt, but now my credit rating is screwed so re-mortgaging looks impossible unless anyone knows a way on that front. Firstly I need to get a good job again though!

hype

I have been on hardship plan with all of my creditors for over 6 months now.

Natwest still refuse to stop interest on the overdraft.

Is this likely to continue until they pass it on to another agency?

Caroline68

In 2002-2004, after a very serious illness I had contacted all my credit cards, insurance, gas, phone, electric and bank to secure arrangements as I was not going to recover from my illness. Everyone involved seemed to have a department or a person who handled this area except Nat West Bank. Their credit card section did have a department as part of PPI. After many phone calls Nat West Bank came to an arrangement (on the phone) and I started payments. To this day I still pay them £150 per month. After the agreement I wrote to them to confirm the agreement. I then wrote to them several times referring to the agreement. It was a year later and a year of payments before they wrote to me and said we didn't have any agreement in place. They never wrote to me to give the terms of the £150 per month but were happy to take all the payments. During this time I never received any bank statements or interest statements showing the amount. I reported them to the Financial Ombudsman and the amount was reduced to 1/3. If I could not pay it right away Nat West would take me to court for the full amount. I was in court last week and the judge agreed a deal was in place but awarded it in favour of Nat West for the full amount. Taking into account all the payments I have made this will cost me over £50,000 in interest on a £10,000 O/D. The judge then granted me an appeal. Nat West are advertising their new Customer Charter. None of it contains a department for those who are ill, have cancer, experience loss or are debilitated in any way. I have had many emails from people who have had problems with Nat West. Yes, they do freeze interest and reduce amounts but it appears they don't like doing it for home owners as they prefer to charge the full amount against your house.

speeddial

I have had similar problems with Natwest as well. It was a £2000 overdraft which with added charges and interest is at £3500. It was passed to Triton DCA and I agreed a payment plan with them of £60 a month, however unbeknown to me, Natwest were adding monthly interest of £65. I was only made aware of this when the debt was then moved on from Triton to Allied International Credit DCA, when they sent a letter requesting £3600.

I thought, hold on a minute that value doesn't seem right, I have been paying it off (6 payments to Triton) but my debt has increased? This happened in June of this year, since then I have been trying to get to the bottom of what has been going on and only this week I have managed to get a statement from Natwest showing the interest being applied.

Interestingly they have only been adding monthly interest while I have been making my monthly payments. When I haven't been making payments they were not adding interest, the last interest was applied in June and as I said before I have been in correspondence with AIC ever since disputing the amount. I am of the mind to not make any further payments and let the DCA chase the debt until I have a lump sum I could use to pay off the balance or at least make a settlement offer?

Caroline68

This seems to be common practise with Nat West. I have now met with several lawyers who all state that it is illegal to charge anyone interest without informing them of the amount and percentage. I still don't know what percentage I was being charged for six years. Tomorrow I am speaking with the Office of Fair Trading. No bank should be allowed to add interest without notification. I will go to appeal in the courts as this was key to the issue. The banks are a business and no business can hide behind this level of ambiguity. I suggest you contact the OFT and send a letter off to your MP. I will keep you posted on my progress. Perhaps Martin Lewis will find some time to look into this as well.

kiwikaz

Along with the OH we've been on a DMP with the CCCS.
I've a credit card with Natwest and they stopped interest straightaway.

On the other side of the coin we have 2 overdrafts with RBS ( same banking group ) and a loan. The loan isn't a problem as the interest was front loaded when we took it out.The 2 overdrafts are still accruing charges and interest.After contacting their collections dept they told me that it was unusual for them to stop interest and charges until the accounts had been on a DMP for at least 12 months.
Not good I know and certainly not helpful. I do honestly think that they treat their creditors differently as there doesn't seem to be a specific pattern.
I also have a CC with Barclaycard and so too does my OH. My interest hasn't been stopped but his has.

Maybe give them a ring or write to them and see if they'll reconsider stopping interest and/or charges. Worth a stamp.

Good luck.