natwest gold account

gia1

3 years ago I opened a natwest gold account, when the guy at the bank was opening the account he told me about all the benefits ill get but I would have to pay £12.00 a month but what he never told me was that they would automatically take it out of my account, i thought i would have to phone to activate this, i really didnt want this so i never looked into it, until a few months ago i found out that they have been charging me and that I should have been offered the option of not having to pay (this was never offered to me). do you think I would be able to claim back my money?.

leclerc

gia1 wrote: »

3 years ago I opened a natwest gold account, when the guy at the bank was opening the account he told me about all the benefits ill get but I would have to pay £12.00 a month but what he never told me was that they would automatically take it out of my account, i thought i would have to phone to activate this, i really didnt want this so i never looked into it, until a few months ago i found out that they have been charging me and that I should have been offered the option of not having to pay (this was never offered to me). do you think I would be able to claim back my money?.

Not everything to be honest with you. You will have to go through all the benefits of the account and decide whether the product was suitable at the time you took it out. It does mean sitting down and going through the benefits and your circumstances with a fine tooth comb from mobile insurance, lower overdraft interest, etc,etc, and then finding out the difference between what you actually did save and what you did not save. For example, part of advantage gold is Mobile phone insurance(if you continued with the same policy then clearly that didn't benefit you).

Before you start though you have GOT to downgrade the account to a current plus or otherwise you keep paying £12.95 for the account.

gia1

thankyou for your reply Leclerc, I did not use any of the benefits for the natwest account as i did not know i was paying for it, the account was just like a basic account, as my credit is not great I couldnt get an overdraft or loan, I had a cheque book but no guarantee card just a basic card.

leclerc

gia1 wrote: »

thankyou for your reply Leclerc, I did not use any of the benefits for the natwest account as i did not know i was paying for it, the account was just like a basic account, as my credit is not great I couldnt get an overdraft or loan, I had a cheque book but no guarantee card just a basic card.

If you had credit problems ie that you may have had defaults on your account then that may rule out some of the benefits but you need to look at all the benefits, ie travel insurance(did you ever go on holiday abroad), cheaper car insurance(did you own a car?) mobile phone insurance(did you have alternative cover?), mortgage(did you not own your own house?).
You need to construct a letter which goes through the sale of the account(the interview with the bank person), what you understood from it and why you had not looked at the account in 3 years. The statement says Advantage Gold at the top, the fees have been clearly marked on the statement as well. You have to argue that the product was unsuitable to you for all that time and why it was, taking into account both the benefits that you could have had against the benefits you could not have. Once you have done that then send a letter stating that you believe the account was missold on the basis that the benefits were unsuitable for your circumstances. In my opinion, I would suggest that you ask for the last 2 years fees on the basis that you did not spot the type of account you were paying for and were unaware of the benefits associated with it.

Premier_2

gia1 wrote: »

3 years ago I opened a natwest gold account, when the guy at the bank was opening the account he told me about all the benefits ill get but I would have to pay £12.00 a month but what he never told me was that they would automatically take it out of my account, i thought i would have to phone to activate this, i really didnt want this so i never looked into it, until a few months ago i found out that they have been charging me and that I should have been offered the option of not having to pay (this was never offered to me). do you think I would be able to claim back my money?.

No.

You were advised the cost, explained the benefits and agreed to accept the account.

I've no idea what gave you the idea that you thought you would "have to phone to activate this". Unless you have some sort of evidence that this was intimated at, then I'm afraid that was your mistake and not one anyone else should compensate you for.

Finally you've had the account for 3 years and so had plenty of time to see what you've been being charged and yet have done nothing about it.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but that will almost certainly be the basis of the response to any claim.

Edit:
Having set up the account, you would almost certainly have been contacted by 3rd parties provided the benefits such as Mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, life insurance and Green Flag Breakdown service (probably annually at least in the case of Green Flag). I'm not sure why you think you would have received these policies if you had not wanted, agreed to, and paid for these benefits.

zppp

gia1 wrote: »

3 years ago I opened a natwest gold account, when the guy at the bank was opening the account he told me about all the benefits ill get but I would have to pay £12.00 a month but what he never told me was that they would automatically take it out of my account, i thought i would have to phone to activate this, i really didnt want this so i never looked into it, until a few months ago i found out that they have been charging me and that I should have been offered the option of not having to pay (this was never offered to me). do you think I would be able to claim back my money?.

Not only that, but the bank has been sending you statments for the last three years - why have you chosen to deal with this now and not 2 1/2 years ago?

leclerc

Premier wrote: »

No.

You were advised the cost, explained the benefits and agreed to accept the account.

I've no idea what gave you the idea that you thought you would "have to phone to activate this". Unless you have some sort of evidence that this was intimated at, then I'm afraid that was your mistake and not one anyone else should compensate you for.

Finally you've had the account for 3 years and so had plenty of time to see what you've been being charged and yet have done nothing about it.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but that will almost certainly be the basis of the response to any claim.

Edit:
Having set up the account, you would almost certainly have been contacted by 3rd parties provided the benefits such as Mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, life insurance and Green Flag Breakdown service (probably annually at least in the case of Green Flag). I'm not sure why you think you would have received these policies if you had not wanted, agreed to, and paid for these benefits.

Premier, they don't contact customers via third party agents.
I had Advantage Gold as a member of staff and paid nothing for it and was never contacted by third party companies ever and no customers were or are today.
They do send out a welcome pack but they are not sent out by Green Flag whatsoever. Mobile phone insurance is done via a telephone number and no policy sent out since all the details are within that welcome pack.

Alpine_Star

Premier wrote: »

Edit:
Having set up the account, you would almost certainly have been contacted by 3rd parties provided the benefits such as Mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, life insurance and Green Flag Breakdown service (probably annually at least in the case of Green Flag). I'm not sure why you think you would have received these policies if you had not wanted, agreed to, and paid for these benefits.

Here we go again: Assume, aim, fire.

I was given a PB Lloyds Premier account and have never been contacted by any of the third parties ever because they don't want to provide you with cover unless they can help it. You don't just 'get' third party benefits - they are merely available to apply for.