Nationwide - unpaid direct debit fee - no warning letter

wayno77

Hi

I have searched this excellent site and also Google but haven't come up with anything and was wondering if anyone out there could answer my qucik question:

I have just been "fined" by Nationwide for an unpaid direct debit from last month (my fault I know) but I had absolutley no wanring letter or anything from Nationwide that they were going to take this £60 fine. This has now also put my account over my overdraft.

Are they able to take the money without sending a warning letter first?

Many thanks for any help with this!

Cheers

Wayne

zppp

wayno77 wrote: »

Hi

I have searched this excellent site and also Google but haven't come up with anything and was wondering if anyone out there could answer my qucik question:

I have just been "fined" by Nationwide for an unpaid direct debit from last month (my fault I know) but I had absolutley no wanring letter or anything from Nationwide that they were going to take this £60 fine. This has now also put my account over my overdraft.

Are they able to take the money without sending a warning letter first?

Many thanks for any help with this!

Cheers

Wayne

Looking at other posts and their website, the unpaid fee is £30 and they give you approx 1 month's notice before debiting.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/charges.htm

wayno77

Hi zppp
Many thanks for your quick reply to this!
Sorry, yes, there were 2 bad direct debits, they were both at the end of the month and my fault but I still did not receive a warning letter from Nationwide so I could prepare myself.
I couldn't see on the link you gave me anything that states that they would give me a month's written notice of these charges.
Do you happen to know where I could find this on their website (I had a look but couldn't see).
Many thanks again for your reply zppp.
Wayne

zppp

wayno77 wrote: »

Hi zppp
Many thanks for your quick reply to this!
Sorry, yes, there were 2 bad direct debits, they were both at the end of the month and my fault but I still did not receive a warning letter from Nationwide so I could prepare myself.
I couldn't see on the link you gave me anything that states that they would give me a month's written notice of these charges.
Do you happen to know where I could find this on their website (I had a look but couldn't see).
Many thanks again for your reply zppp.
Wayne

Hi,

I think they put it on statements, I read somewhere that the charges are debited 28 days after the statement date.

Ah I found it!! Number 12

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/pdf/current_account/record_of_interest_and_charges.pdf

wayno77

Hi zppp
Found it! Sorry!
They aparently put it in the monthly bank statement (I don't read them!). You would of thought they would send a letter for £30!
I will check when I get home that they have put it in the statement.
Thanks again for your help zppp.
Wayne

zppp

wayno77 wrote: »

Hi zppp
Found it! Sorry!
They aparently put it in the monthly bank statement (I don't read them!). You would of thought they would send a letter for £30!
I will check when I get home that they have put it in the statement.
Thanks again for your help zppp.
Wayne

No probs. Any time.

ajones28

Hi just noticed your thread and thought I would have a good look at Nationwides' website. They certainly don't make it very easy to find this kind of information at all. The only thing I could see about charges and notice of.. is as follows:-

'You will be notified of charges on your next FlexAccount statement. The charges and interest will be deducted 28 days from the statement date'.

Not sure if you have a Flexaccount. Obviously if you do though Nationwide have not stuck by their T's & C's. Either way you need to call and make a complaint. In my opinion they are expecting you to be psychic, which unfortunately is not a trait everyone (or anyone-depending on your beliefs) has.

As for your DD's I suggest you cancel them next time, according to their website you can do this anytime upto 6pm the day before. Fair enough it looks like it is a bit of a pain setting them back up again, but at least you won't get these dreaded charges then will you.

Good luck, unfortunately knowing what banks are like, I think you are going need it.

Premier_2

wayno77 wrote: »

...They aparently put it in the monthly bank statement (I don't read them!). You would of thought they would send a letter for £30!...

Would that of helped?

Probably more chance of it being chucked out unopened like the rest of the unsolicited mail they keep sending if it's not part of the statement, at least for me.

Gill28

I have a similar problem with the Alliance & Leicester, the Halifax quick payment facility was having problems and I was unable to transfer money into my A&L account to cover the mortgage. We therefore paid cash into the account before lunchtime on the day payment was due (I know they do say it has to be in the day before, but with the Halifax problems we didn't manage that and it was too late to get into town). So they rejected the DD, but to add to the problem they charged £25 immediately on the same day. We were then on holiday, so I didn't look at my account and didn't see this charge (expecting if there were any charges we'd be notified and have some time). They therefore tried to take the money out again, but due to the charge there were insufficient funds and they charged again but took the payment. We noticed this on the actual day and put more money into the account to cover this and the previous charge.

I've just called them to query this, and customer services have said they can refund one charge if we haven't had any refunds previously (which we may have had but over a year or so ago), or can refer to their charging dept to review the two charges together, which I have taken my chances and asked her to do.

It just really annoys me that you can get the funds in cash (so cleared???) before lunchtime and they still charge you. Previously as long as it was in before a reasonable time it would be ok, I feel it is just another way for the banks to charge you. DD's used to be run, and then run again later as far as I was aware, so you had some time. Technology has improved, so why can they not do this anymore, or is it an excuse to charge (from what I think!)

Premier_2

Gill28 wrote: »

I have a similar problem with the Alliance & Leicester, the Halifax quick payment facility was having problems and I was unable to transfer money into my A&L account to cover the mortgage. We therefore paid cash into the account before lunchtime on the day payment was due (I know they do say it has to be in the day before, but with the Halifax problems we didn't manage that and it was too late to get into town). So they rejected the DD, but to add to the problem they charged £25 immediately on the same day. We were then on holiday, so I didn't look at my account and didn't see this charge (expecting if there were any charges we'd be notified and have some time). They therefore tried to take the money out again, but due to the charge there were insufficient funds and they charged again but took the payment. We noticed this on the actual day and put more money into the account to cover this and the previous charge.

I've just called them to query this, and customer services have said they can refund one charge if we haven't had any refunds previously (which we may have had but over a year or so ago), or can refer to their charging dept to review the two charges together, which I have taken my chances and asked her to do.

It just really annoys me that you can get the funds in cash (so cleared???) before lunchtime and they still charge you. Previously as long as it was in before a reasonable time it would be ok, I feel it is just another way for the banks to charge you. DD's used to be run, and then run again later as far as I was aware, so you had some time. Technology has improved, so why can they not do this anymore, or is it an excuse to charge (from what I think!)

I suggest you familiarise yopurself with the terms and conditions of your A&L account.

I suspect this applies:

24.2.2 We require one clear Working Day before We will allow the cash payment to be used to make a direct debit, standing order, bill or cheque payment.

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/customer-service/pdfs/Current-Account-terms-and-conditions.pdf

If you don't like the terms they offer, take your custom elsewhere

Mike_wachowski

Hi there,
Completely new to this idea of reclaiming (stolen?) cash (got a few banks + a very irritating CC to try and reclaim some stuff from) but in this case it's Nationwide's ridiculous fee.
On the 1st of June a £35 payment went out that took my account over by £3.40 The same day a transfer for £400 came in from Barclay's keeping the account in check.
Nationwide charged me £30 for the privilege of refusing to pay the direct debit meaning I had to go into the place and pay it in person the next day.

Is there any way of getting this back? I'm fully committed to leaving their sorry selves if they don't, hoping that will be force enough :-)