NatWest Loans Procedure

sylvie1978

Hi everyone,

Sorry, this is going to be a bit long-winded but I was hoping somebody would be able to offer me some advice on a recent experience with Natwest.

I recently applied for a consolidation loan with Natwest. I have been a customer there for over 10 years and have had a previous loan with them, on which I never missed a payment.
On my first enquiry, the Advisor filled in the loan form and said that there was no real reason he could see why the loan would not be accepted, as It would be saving me £400 a month on what I am already paying to service my debts. However, when he entered this into the computer, the loan was declined on the grounds of affordability. The advisor told me that he didn't understand why it had done this and advised me to wait until pay day (where I would receive a slightly higher wage than usual) and apply again, so my average income would be higher.
I was also signed up for an Advantage Gold account at a cost of £12.95 per month in order to get a slightly lower interest rate.

He advised me to wait until pay day (where I would receive a slightly higher wage than usual) and apply again, so my average income would be higher.
I returned on pay day and the loan was again refused by the computer. and that he would forward the paperwork etc onto the loans team (in head office, presumably) and that he would let me know in a few days what they said.
After 4 days, I had heard nothing, and telephoned the branch, who said the advisor was currently with a customer and that they would get him to call me back. This call back did not happen, so the next day I went into the branch. The lady on the customer services desk said the advisor was on a course and that she would get him to telephone me when he came back in 2 days. She then looked into my account and printed off some sheets of paper. The first one, which I caught a glimpse of, was addressed to me and started with "we are please to inform you" and ended with "thank you for choosing Natwest": not phrases which i associate with being declined for something! The lady said she would put the paperwork in her intray and give them to the advisor when he returned.

After not hearing from the advisor on the day he was due to return from his course, I went into the branch again the following day. Again, the advisor was busy and I was promised he would ring me that afternoon. But he did not, and I returned again to the branch the following day where I waited for over an hour so see him. He said that the loan had again been declined on the grounds of affordability and that he didn't understand why this decision had been taken, as he had worked it out to fall into the affordability criteria on his paperwork. I asked him about the paperwork which had been printed off by the customer services advisor, and he said that once it had been printed it was wiped from the system so it couldn't be printed again, and that she had not passed it onto him. He said I should recieve a letter from the Loans dept which would explain in more detail, as they only gave him a yes/no answer.

I have received no such letter, and that was nearly a month ago, I am concerned as to whether this means that the advisor didn't actually send the paperwork off.

He then suggested that we extended the amount of the loan in order to be sure that it fully covered all of my debts, as any outstanding ones could make the computer reject the loan. He said it would do it that afternoon and call me as soon as he had done so. This call never happened. The following Monday I returned to speak to him, where he apologised and set up a telephone appointment on Thursday where we would enter the new amount into the computer, with me giving details over the phone. On Thursday, he telephoned me stating that he had to go home early for personal reasons and that he would call me on Tuesday to input the loan again (it was Easter weekend). Predictably, he did not ring me on Tuesday. When I finally got hold of him on Thursday (after more phonecalls and visits to the bank resulted in no joy on Tuesday and Wednesday), he inputted the loan again and it was again declined on the grounds of affordability. He told me that this was nothing to do with my credit rating as "the bank considers you a good customer", and that he would again send paperwork (including copies of my credit card statements) to the loans dept. After over a week I had heard nothing and went into the branch, where a lady on customer services went into the advisor's office and came back saying "he says it has been declined and a letter wil come from the loans dept".

It has been 10 days since he sent the paper work and i have not received a letter. I do not understand why a letter did not come the 1st time he sent it to the loans dept, or what the paperwork printed out by the customer service lady meant or why it mysteriously disappeared!

Does anyone have any advice about whether this is a normal way to be treated by Natwest? I had my hopes repeatedly built up by the advisor, saying he was sure it would go through, and was gutted when the loan was finally declined the second time: It would have meant the world of a difference to my financial situation.

DO i have grounds for complaint? I am concerned that procedure was not followed correctly, that I was treated badly, and that the repeated applications could have affected my credit rating (the advisor did not say this could happen).

Again, sorry to be so long winded,
Thanks in advance for any advice!

thriftymomma

Are you sure they have your correct address on file? Seems odd that no letters are getting to you.

sylvie1978

Hi,
Yeah, they must have the correct address. All my other bank statements etc from Natwest arrive, and there has only ever been this address attached to any Natwest account.