Claiming back bank charges letter.

ldu06lhd

Hi I have recently accrued some bank charges from Natwest and was wondering if I could be given any advice... on the letter I wrote..

I have copied the body of the letter in here, with personal details missing. Obviously I will be more specific in my letter.

Could anyone please advise me. I know I am unlikely to get this money back but any extra tips would really help! My main annoyance is that this account had an overdraft facility as I always request them on any account when I take them out. I am positive I was never informed of them removing it and would never ask for it to be removed! Therefore I never normally worry if my money is running a bit low!

Thanks in advance for any pointers!



Dear Sir or Madam,

I have previously contacted Natwest via phone with regards to a recent bank charge in relation to a direct debit payment. When I realised the direct debit had not been processed I immediately moved money to cover the deficit. The account was in deficit for less than a week and only because of simple human error.

I was shocked to discover the charges I had amassed, especially as I was under the impression that the account had an overdraft facility. Whilst on the phone to one of Natwest’s advisors he informed me the overdraft limit had been removed in April 2007. When I asked why I had never been informed of this he said that a letter would have been sent to me. I have never seen this letter and so asked for proof it had been sent. The advisor could not provide proof so perhaps you can do so for me. I have been a customer since the age of thirteen and until this issue arose I had not considered banking with anyone else, however my faith in your company is not as strong as it once was.

I feel that in issuing these charges you have broken the FSA’s regulatory principle to ‘pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly’ and I am writing to request that you reopen my complaint taking into consideration the following new grounds:

I believe the fact that I have been incurring bank charges goes contrary to the aims of the Lending Code (Section 9) and Banking Conduct of Business Sourcebook (section 5.1.4 ‘in particular, a firm should deal fairly with a banking customer whom it has reason to believe is in financial difficulty’), and previously were contrary to the Banking Code. My personal situation has been affected by the charges leaving me in financial hardship in the following ways:


-Can’t pay for necessities. I am struggling to make basic payments for electricity, food and gas bills. As a result I am now entitled to full council tax and housing benefit.
-Can’t pay debts. I’m struggling to pay off my overdraft I accumulated whilst undertaking my studies, and am growing further in debt with the student loans company.
-Substantial drop in income. I lost my job on July 8th and therefore have had to accept Job Seekers Allowance of only £48 a week. Therefore your charges seriously hinder my living costs.
-Living off credit. I’m living off credit and as a result can only survive by means of my overdraft which I’d like to be able to pay off.
-Frequently over overdraft limit. I cannot get out of my overdraft due to low income and bank charges do not help.
-Bank charges have hurt my situation. The charges have contributed to making my financial hardship situation materially worse as previously mentioned I currently have to survive on £48 a week.
-The charges are disproportionate. I unintentionally slipped over my limit by approximately £36 and the charge is almost as much as the bill’s total.

I found some information on your website that says,
“If you have financial problems, talk to us, and we will try to help you solve them. …The sooner you come to us, the more likely it is that we will be able to help.”
I am therefore hoping you will be able to help me by waiving these bank charges I refer to.


I now ask that you repay the amount I have previously requested of £35.

I look forward to a full response to this letter within 14 days and if I do not receive a satisfactory response I intend to pursue my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service or small claims court at the earliest opportunity. I will also make sure any future accounts, credit cards or anything of a similar nature will not be taken out under Natwest and I will make arrangements to close all of my accounts and move them elsewhere. However I hope this will be a last resort and that we can sort this out quickly.

Yours faithfully,

bengal-stripe

ldu06lhd wrote: »

My main annoyance is that this account had an overdraft facility......informed me the overdraft limit had been removed in April 2007. When I asked why I had never been informed of this he said that a letter would have been sent to me. I have never seen this letter and so asked for proof it had been sent.,

Every statement, every balance enquiry, every time you log into your account, will show whether an overdraft (and how much) is available on your account.

How come, you haven’t noticed the fact that there is no overdraft in more than three years?