Late Fee - Natwest

kenshaz

MABLE wrote:

My advice is take your medicine and let this be a lessson to you.

The charge should reflect cost and is not a punishment,therefore the bank should reconsider the situation,and reimburse as a gesture of goodwill.:money:

ts_aly2000

Don't trust banks.

I have a £2000 float in my main current account, and £200 in the other accounts. I service my 'own' overdraft facility. CC has a DD on it, and I pay on top of anything over the counter.

Maybe I'll be eating my words sometime, but I haven't paid a bank charge for what must be about 5-10 years. NatWest screwed me over when my student account switched over to a graduate account in the late 90's.

Never ever again. I simply don't trust em'.

mrsmortenharket

There is a good reason for a late payment fee.

It means people will (or should!) pay on time so they won't get the fine.

I think a lot of people would be very lax at paying if there wasn't a LPF.

Lisa x

kenshaz

mrsmortenharket wrote:

There is a good reason for a late payment fee.

It means people will (or should!) pay on time so they won't get the fine.

I think a lot of people would be very lax at paying if there wasn't a LPF.

Lisa x

Fine is a punishment ,they cannot impose penalties it must reflect the costs,sorry fee,but you make a valid point an incentive is required

Call_Centre_Monkey

Gordon_the_Moron wrote:

I'd still like to see a court uphold this, according to the consumer credit act the charge is supposed to reflect the companies costs NOT a penalty. I have in my hand a letter in response to a request for a refund from Natwest card services (from a Miss Jo Durrant) stating that the system is electronic and automated so it can't tell the difference between you going £1 or £1000 over your limit (apart from when it calculates the interest I guess... or is the interest the same?) and the £12 charge is a fixed penalty. Her words, not mine, the charge is "a fixed penalty"

Regardless of the OFT judgement that is unlawful, ask Natwest to explain the costs incurred by them or refund the charges, if they refuse to give you a breakdown they are breaking the law, if they admit that it didn't cost them what the charges came to the charge is unlawful. At the end of the day they will give up. Don't put this down to experience.

Probably worth trying cancelling before that though, have a look around if any cards offer a buffer zone like some current accounts do (not sure off the top of my head if any do) then ring up and ask to cancel and give that as the reason. They might refund then and it would save !!!!!! them off with threats.

Having a variable charge would be next to impossible to manage. Plus it would hurt those more with spiralling debts, and that really isn't the purpose of the charge. The OFT have agreed £12 is a reasonably accurate amount for a charge.

With regards to giving a breakdown of the charge, again that is next to impossible. It's not just as easy as saying "this letter cost £12 to be sent out". Yes, the letter does cost a small amount, then there is the postage cost. You have the cost of the printer to maintain. And the computer used to print the letter. You have the cost of the computers storing the information. You need electricity to power it all. Staff in the call centre/branch/running the bank is another cost. And that's just to start with.

I really don't get how people can complain about charges in this county (especially the new OFT approved £12 charges). The UK is one of the few places to have free banking, other countries charge you for doing transactions etc. All banks worldwide are a business and need to make a profit to stay afloat.

And at the end of the day, if you don't like the t&cs of the financial product you're wanting, don't take it out in the first place. Banks make it clear what the charges are if you do something outwith the t&cs, and how to avoid such charges.

Why is it so hard for people to manage their own money

nicki_2

I just noticed when I got the statement that I underpaid out to file, that the due by date was SUNDAY 3rd September. :mad: That means that any payment would have had to clear on my credit card account by 1st September to count. No wonder I was 2 days late with it clearing. :mad::mad::mad:

BUT I've learnt my lesson and I've converted my desktop to a image file (Created in Paint) where I can record the due date of my payments and all my payments made AND CLEARED so I know where I am upto when it comes to meeting the minimum payment.

Got my latest statement yesterday which shows the charge. Annoyingly everything else on the statement is a "Payment received - Thank you" except for the interest!

Call_Centre_Monkey

I would advise you set up a direct debit for the minimum payment, and then you can pay more on top of that if you want to. It's a really good safety net everyone should really think about doing.