Nationwide - Not Happy At All.

BYould

The charges that they have charged you are correct as they are two separate transactions.

You should however contact them and ask if on this occasion they can refund the charges, you might not get both refunded but they are usually pretty good and they might at least refund one if this is your first time.

Also nationwide charge you 28days after your statement date which i think is better so at least you can plan for it.

Good luck

Milarky

Mr_Nigel wrote:

My confusion is this, i was charged £20 for going over my agreed limit , which they allowed me to do as i used my debit card and it was never declined, but when it came to the direct debit i was charged £30 as it would have taken me over my agreed limit!? how on earth does that make sense!? they obviously realised they could charge me again.

Yes these are separate items. They couldn't 'see' the direct debit coming to them so had to refuse payment. They really had no choice.

They 'knew' you had previously breached the overdraft with your debit card use. Arguably they would have had discretion to decline you at the point of sale as - in effect - they instigate 'capture' of that payment. In practice whether or not this occurs would depend on where you used the debit card: if it was online a verfication would be made and (presumably) Nationwide would decline that one. But if it was in a shop a 'floor limit' might mean that no attempt was made to verfiy the amount that took you over (the shop is guaranteed payment if it performs Chip and Pin checks correctly, so they probably aren't required to verfiy amounts below £50 or £100.)

I would ask them if they could waiver the debit card charge therefore - on the grounds that they could in some circumstances have declined such a transaction and that you acted in good faith . As that is for the smaller amount of £20 they might feel inclined to agree to waive it.

If successful, you could then go out on a further limb and say that had they successfully declined your shop transaction then not only would you have been made aware of the closeness of your balance to your overdraft limit, but also you would have then been able to have the direct debit amount honoured [I don't know if this would be true of course, it relies on the value of the card transaction not being taken off your balance and leaving enough on your overdraft to meet the direct debit amount] Only use that argument if the stopping of the card payment really would have made that difference. But as I say, that would be pushing the boat out.

[BTW I have today incurred a bounced direct debit on my Nationwide account - which ultimately was my mistake for not assuming and not checking what amount would be taken for my credit card - it should have been set to min payment - and was set to max. Had I asked for the min payment of my credit card and they not changed it then Nationwide would still be entitled to their £30 as the 'injured' party but my credit card would in that case rebate me the same amount. It was for 10K however! so that makes the charge not seem so extragant. If it had been for £10 I would not feel the same way]

RibenaBerry_2

I've commented on other threads on my views on these charges as a whole, which I won't repeat here!

However, I agree with the other poster. Ring Nationwide. Explain that you are a new customer and generally very happy with their service. However, explain that you made an innocent mistake when the account was newly open. Point out that you have been managing it well since and promise it won't happen again. Then ask, very sweetly, whether they will consider waiving the charges this time.

My husband has done this twice, both times the banks were as nice as pie. They know that there are issues with enforceability and it's often easiest to let people off on a 'first offence'. Plus, it gains them goodwill with a new customer.

paul7_2

I've just got off the phone to both my Nationwide branch and their head office trying to get an unauthorised overdraft fee refunded and I wish I'd saved my breath (and my phone bill).

Even though I was only overdrawn for 2 days, have never been overdrawn before in over 10 years and have over £30,000 in savings with them they were firmly sticking to their policy of “we only refund if it's our fault”.

I'm so disappointed with their unsympathetic attitude that I'm tempted to switch my banking elsewhere. Although I guess I won't fund much different at any other bank or building soc.

£20 charge for 2 days overdrawn without even a notification letter seem a bit extortionate, but I will probably just put it down to a learning experience and keep better track in future.

paul7_2

... forgot to ask.

Anyone know if had I phoned them up as soon as I notice I was overdrawn I could have avoided the charge?

cazziebo

didn't work for me earlier this month - and I was transferring money in the same day as the account was going overdrawn.

I detect a real change in attitude within NWide. They used to be really helpful and understanding but now they've got a bit of "Computer says no" mentality.

I called up to request one month's bank charges back as the overdraft was due to an unplanned debit (changing utility suppliers, two lots of charges) and the bank charges put me in the S*** big time. The first person I spoke was lovely, suggested I request two months, and then I got a badly photocopied letter back saying "our charges are fair and transparent...No chance"

the upshot is I'm now claiming back 6 years worth of charges.