Norwich and Peterborough overdraft charges

daniel7912

Hi,

A couple of months ago, I didnt realise that I still had a direct debit paying into my dads account, and when it was due to go out for that month I didnt have enough funds in my account to make the transaction. Therefore, I was sent a letter saying I had been charged £25+ for not having enough funds, so I went and paid off this charge a few days later.

This charge made me go into minus funds, and I dont have an overdraft on my account, so they kindly charged me another £15 + interest! I never recieved a letter to tell me this, until the following month when they sent a letter saying I was -£15 and if I did not pay it within the next 5 days, they would charge me another £15, and threatening to report me to credit agencies.

They sent this letter on a thursday and they seem to use 5 days strictly, rather than 5 working days. I was the other side of the country attending a family funeral, so i did not see this letter until the 5 days had already passed. Now they keep sending me letters threatening with the credit agencies and giving me deadlines to pay.

I wrote them a letter asking for a small piece of sympathy and for them to let me off, because I have had my account with them since i was young and have never done anything like this before. So far, I have not had a reply, other than the letters I mentioned previously.

Is there anything I can do to try and get these charges back? It really annoys me how they think they can charge someone so much money just for making a simple mistake, especially when Ive been a loyal customer for ages.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Premier_2

daniel7912 wrote: »

...they sent a letter saying I was -£15 and if I did not pay it within the next 5 days, they would charge me another £15, and threatening to report me to credit agencies.

They sent this letter on a thursday and they seem to use 5 days strictly, rather than 5 working days. I was the other side of the country attending a family funeral, so i did not see this letter until the 5 days had already passed. Now they keep sending me letters threatening with the credit agencies and giving me deadlines to pay....

I understand you were attending a funeral at the time the original notice was sent, but the building society probably were not aware of this at the time.

Why didn't you contact them as soon as you did get the notice, apologise that you didn't get to them earlier due to a family funeral you were attending and pay the full amount you owed?

The longer you delay, the more charges will accumulate and the greater the risk they will actually contact the credit reference agencies.

daniel7912

Yes i know I should of paid, but I rang them trying to pay them and they say I have to go in-store and pay because I cant pay over the phone...so I have now gone in the shop to pay the amount mentioned in the letter. Obviously, they cant just let me pay and get it over with, now they've added another £38 for no reason! So now I have to ring the head office again and no doubt get sent back to the shop yet again.

This is getting ridiculous, I cant wait until I'm rid of these money grabbing scumbags.

natweststaffmember

daniel7912 wrote: »

Yes i know I should of paid, but I rang them trying to pay them and they say I have to go in-store and pay because I cant pay over the phone...so I have now gone in the shop to pay the amount mentioned in the letter. Obviously, they cant just let me pay and get it over with, now they've added another £38 for no reason! So now I have to ring the head office again and no doubt get sent back to the shop yet again.

This is getting ridiculous, I cant wait until I'm rid of these money grabbing scumbags.

Next time ask them how much do you have to pay including any fees that are pending/outststanding.

daniel7912

In the shop they said that to close my account I have to pay £72.43. On the letter, they said my account balance was -£33.93. They have added 2 months worth of charges on when I was going to pay it before the next charge date!

natweststaffmember

daniel7912 wrote: »

In the shop they said that to close my account I have to pay £72.43. On the letter, they said my account balance was -£33.93. They have added 2 months worth of charges on when I was going to pay it before the next charge date!

That is fairly standard and with regards to closing the account that is correct. If you asked how much to pay prior to the next charging period then it would be lower which means that the outstanding amount would be paid off over two months rather than all in one go.
I'll explain, charges from the last period(generally over a period of one month) would be due out next month and charges accrued from that charging period to today would be due out the month afterwards.

daniel7912

So I'm going to have to pay the £72.43 then? I cant believe this just for one tiny mistake.

I dont quite understand what you mean about paying it over two months though, why not just pay it in one go?

natweststaffmember

daniel7912 wrote: »

So I'm going to have to pay the £72.43 then? I cant believe this just for one tiny mistake.

I dont quite understand what you mean about paying it over two months though, why not just pay it in one go?

Well, it entirely up to you, but I assumed you were querying the amount because you were unable to pay it in full. I would ask the bank about any refund on this based on the fact that you paid what was owed and the funeral issue away from an area where you could put money into the Norwich and Peterbro' branch.

daniel7912

I havent actually paid anything off of the £72.43 as of yet, because the person in store told me to call the head office and discuss it with them. I am able to pay the charges, I just don't want to pay anything unless I 100% have to, because £72 seems way too excessive to me, i paid the original £25 they charged me, and now theyve gone on to take £100 off of me once ive paid this off!

Premier_2

I wouldn't wait too long to pay. They'll charge you an additional £19 a month for any month you haven't paid them in full plus almost 25% p.a. interest (which'll accue on a daily basis)

I believe, despite their assurances otherwise, that N&P are in financial difficulties. They've recently introduced/increased a load of charges on their accounts and closed a significant number of their local branches. They also stopped/reduced their huge advertising (e.g. sponsors of Anglia TV local weather) budget.

I think they'll play it by the book, especially as you haven't paid them anything towards this unauthorised overdraft for a couple of months.

As NWSM suggests, get them to agree a full & final settlement figure and then pay that.