Unpaid direct debit charges? Question?

rachelh80

hi sorry if post is in wrong place.

just a question about bank charge re-claims?
(as my freind said it was worth a go?)

I have a basic step account with natwest (no over drafts) and have been charged a few times over the years.

For not having enough for direct debits bt phone bill,etc! £38 charged. also a one for around £70 aswell.:eek:
These were taking out of my income support when it was put into my account.
(i understand its my own fault the direct debit money should of been in:()

I dont work as i am a single mum of two boys,so dont know if this will make a diffrance if i can try and reclaim?

Advice please if i will be able to try and reclaim?
or just forget about it?

if anyone can help i will be very great full.
thanks alot xx:beer:

Premier_2

I'm not sure if the tariff has changed recently, but the current charge for unpaid items appears to be £5 per item (with a maximum of £50 per charging cycle)
http://www.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/g1/other-accounts/step-account.ashx#tabs=section3

You'll need to check historical terms, but if they never said it would be £38, you can certainly recover them as they have clearly been charged in error. It sounds like the £70 was an error too (unless there is more to that charge than simply a refused item)

Even if the charges were as per their tariff at the time, you may be able to claim under financial hardship grounds. Check out the lending code to see if you qualify, and if so follow the MSE article on reclaiming bank charges under financial hardship
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

rachelh80

Brilliant thanks for your help x

natweststaffmember

It was £38.00 an unpaid item prior to the charges changing to £5.00 per unpaid item.

tifo

as far as i am aware, a Step account cannot incur charges because you cannot request an overdraft (which is what they charge you for) so there should be NO charges on this account. If the facility isn't available on the account, how can they say they had to make a decision whether to pay or not?

# Free day-to-day banking without subscription charges
# No borrowing facilities mean that you can't go overdrawn

Also try this when writing to them :

I note that RBS/Natwest has reduced such charges from £38.00 to £5.00 from 1 October 2009. This is welcomed but is also a recognition of how unfair the previous charge of £38.00 was to its customers.

I therefore look forward to receiving a refund of the £xx.xx charges to be paid immediately into my account as a gesture of goodwill. The bank cannot now justify these charges in any way.

I also look forward to receiving an explanation of how a decision was made on whether to pay or not pay the items which incurred the charges on an account which has no overdraft facility as a core part of the agreement and CANNOT go overdrawn, meaning there was no service provided in this instance and therefore no charges could be applied in return.

The bank say this, but how can you request an informal overdraft on an account with no overdraft facility, i.e. it CANNOT go overdrawn!

An Unpaid Item Fee will be payable if:

* you informally request an overdraft by issuing instructions for a withdrawal or other payment; and
* the payment cannot be met from the funds in your account or any unused arranged overdraft facility; and
* we decide in our discretion not to make the payment

natweststaffmember

tifo wrote: »

as far as i am aware, a Step account cannot incur charges because you cannot request an overdraft (which is what they charge you for) so there should be NO charges on this account. If the facility isn't available on the account, how can they say they had to make a decision whether to pay or not?

I think you are being liberal with the truth with regards to your definition so here is the one from the NatWest site:

"An Unpaid Item Fee will be payable if:

• you informally request an overdraft by issuing instructions for a withdrawal or other payment; and
• the payment cannot be met from the funds in your account or any unused arranged overdraft facility; and
• we decide in our discretion not to make the payment."

The key word is ANY unused arranged overdraft facility. That does not mean that you have to have one to be into excess but you are not charged maintenance fees formerly unarranged borrowing fees.



Also try this when writing to them :



The bank say this, but how can you request an informal overdraft on an account with no overdraft facility, i.e. it CANNOT go overdrawn!

I'm sorry but you have misinterpreted the unpaid item fees information. The keys to it are that the conditions are not a 1,2 and 3 but a "under certain circumstances".

They won't refund on the basis of that letter.

Premier_2

I agree. An informal overdraft was requested because the customer issued instructions for a withdrawal or other payment and the payment could be met from the funds in the account (or any unused arranged overdraft facility).

Because the bank decided not to make the payment (presumably because the account does not allow any overdraft), then the unpaid item fee as described in the tariff applies.

natweststaffmember

Premier wrote: »

I agree. An informal overdraft was requested because the customer issued instructions for a withdrawal or other payment and the payment could be met from the funds in the account (or any unused arranged overdraft facility).

Because the bank decided not to make the payment (presumably because the account does not allow any overdraft), then the unpaid item fee as described in the tariff applies.

I don't agree with your definition, lol. The payment request was made and the bank refused to pay this as a result of there being insufficient funds. As the account is exempt from maintenance charges or unarranged borrowing then no consideration was given as to whether to grant an overdraft but merely the decision was based on whether there was sufficient funds in the account. Considering of an informal overdraft is not valid since it is a step account and none are available. The consideration was plainly and simply: are there funds available? YES means payment and NO means non payment with associated fee.

If it had been an account with an overdraft available then there would be 2 considerations based on payment of the amount and on whether to grant an excess on any overdraft facility(which I think is unfair btw under UTCCR 5)