Can Natwest Do this ??

Debbiem

I currently have an advantage gold account which costs me £12 a month, i dont use any of the benefits so called them today and asked to downgrade my account back to a current account.

Natwest have said that i will need to close my Advantage gold account and apply for a new current account, however they cannot guarentee that they will offer me the same overdraft limit as i have at present (£1500) and that as i have a personal loan ( taken out Apr 04 ) which is on a preferential rate as an advantage gold customer, my loan will need to be redone on the current rates.

It basically seems like they are saying to me that i must keep paying this £12 per month until my loan and overdraft are paid off !

Is this legal ??

virgin_moneysaver

go into your branch & ask them to convert it back to a current plus account - there is no time limit on how long you have to keep the Ad Gold & AFAIK (unless its changed since I was in work yesterday!) they don't change limits etc, if they have its the 1st I've heard of it - I think you'll get more joy face-to-face - Good Luck

Andy_L

Apply for a current a/c with another bank whilst running the (dis)advantage account &, if the o/d limit is good enough, take your overdraft elsewhere.

Stooze your overdraft onto a 0% credit card

Is the discount rate on the loan worth £12/month?

gingercordial

I hope not. I was recently offered six months of Advantage Gold for free so took up the offer as that means I can get commission free currency for my holidays (nowhere else to get it from near my work). They said if I didn't want to keep the benefits I could cancel in December and go back to a regular account, which I fully intend to do. Please keep us posted on how you get on!

Sillychuckie

Just look at the T's+C's of the loan agreement.
If it says they can adjust the rate if you become a standard current account customer, then yes. Its legal.
If it doesn't (and its a fixed rate), then no... they can't.
Its all in black and white somewhere I'm sure. Just read through your records.

M_Thomson

I am sure, it was someone just after another sale, so they wanted to get you to open another current account.

Debbiem

Hooray !!!

After many phonecalls to various people i have managed to downgrade my advantage gold account to a normal current account, kept my overdraft facility and secured a rate of 16.4 on it, its gone up a bit from my previous 14.92%, but even if the overdraft is maxed out it means i would only pay an extra £59.28 in interest compared to forking out £144 per year for the advantage gold account !

Total saved £7 per month

lotta_2

Hiya!
Cancelled my 'Review meeting' with Nat West today and tried to change last week from Gold account to a normal current account. The guy on the phone got really unfriendly and tried to frighten me regarding my overdraft etc. After reading your messages I am now waiting for them to start making more problems...can't wait because they really got me in a mood!!
Congratulations to you for getting your account sorted!!
Lotta

virgin_moneysaver

good for you debbiem, please don't blame the original person you spoke to, its the horrendous targets that are forced upon us, even down to retention of ad Gold accs - you wouldn't believe the pressure.