Natwest Credit Card - Do I complain?

stqueen

Hi all,

Hoping for some advice with this. . .

I cancelled my credit card with Natwest in October 2010. It only had a £500 limit on it, and I was only using it for very small purchases. I called Natwest, explained I wanted to cancel the card, paid the outstanding balance (around £11), cut the card up and that was that. They confirmed the account was closed. The following day, the credit card had disappeared from my online view (I bank with Natwest and have a current account online also). That's the end of that I thought.

Until. . . .2 weeks ago I ran a credit report on Equifax (I wanted to make sure my credit report is shipshape as I am planning on applying for a mortgage in 18 months or so with my OH). To my surprise, the Natwest credit card account was showing as red (missed payments, unsettled) for Oct 2010, Nov 2010, Dec 2010 and Jan 2011. What, I thought!! I cancelled this credit card at the beginning of October! I called Natwest Card Services who were unable to help at all as I didnt have a credit card number, and because I cancelled my card, didnt have my details. At the same time, I wrote to Equifax explaining that the credit card had been cancelled.

Anyway. . .as I was in town last week I decided to call into the branch to investigate this. They managed to call through to Credit Card Services who confirmed the balance was outstanding by £6.92!!! Apparently interest that was applied AFTER I cleared the balance!

Their line of defence was they sent me a closing statement. They sent this to my old address (I moved house in Feb 2010). However, I notifyed Natwest immediately when I moved - they were in fact the first people I told. I informed the lady in the bank of this, and she replied 'Well, whoever did this for you didn't tick the box to send the information through to Credit Card Services, so they didnt do their job properly, basically'. However, this is all irrelevant, as I have since checked and, as I suspected, I changed from post statements to online statements in 2009! I never recieved any statement by email, or on online banking. The last credit card statement I recieved in the post was in early 2009.

As a result, I am now stuck with a credit report reporting late/missed payments for 4 months, which I was not aware of. No one from Natwest pursued me AT ALL for this overdue payment, at any point from me cancelling the card right up until I discovered this. If I hadn't gone into branch and queried it, it would still be sitting there now!

Equifax will not change the information, as in their eyes the payment was indeed outstanding.

I guess my key questions are:

- Will this affect my credit rating to the extent it may prevent me getting a mortgage in 18 months time?
- Do I have grounds to make a complaint?

Any advice or thoughts would be helpful

izools

This is normal.

Rolling interest is payable on all credit card accounts that aren't cleared in full for at least two months leading up to the month in which you close the account.

You should send your complaint in WRITING to Natwest and explain to them that:

Whilst you are aware now that rolling interest is on the account, you were NOT made aware of this fact either electronically, verbally, or in writing. No requests were sent to you in any way shape or form requesting payment, nor did you have visibility of the account on the online banking.

Advise on your letter that whilst you understand they claim to have issued you with a final statement, this was not sent to the address you were told by a representative of THEIR company was on file. Advise you notified them of the change of address well in advance of the statement being printed but as a result of THEIR ERROR you did not receive it. Point out that it is their responsibility to account for their errors, not yours.

Follow by saying you feel the arrears registered with the Credit Reference Agencies are vexatious, misrepresentative, and in breach of the Data Protection Act. Write that the data on your report tells other creditors that you failed to pay a bill and ask how can I have failed to pay a bill that I never received?

Close by requesting that they remove all record of any and all late or missed payments against the account from your credit file in light of the above facts to prevent the matter being escalated to the ICO in light of their breach of DPA. Enclose a cheque for the outstanding balance, and advise on your letter that the cheque is ONLY to be cashed if they agree to the removal of all adverse data from your credit file. Advise they must return the cheque to you if they do not agree.

You will NEED to write your account number (card number) on the head of the letter otherwise it is likely to get mis-filed their end. You can call up telephone banking and say you need the reference number for the account. As long as you pass security they must give this to you so be persistent.

Good luck! :beer:

stqueen

Thanks Izools for your very helpful post.

A letter has gone off to Natwest Card Services this morning.

I will report back on any successes!

Thanks again

planteria

sympathies. take izools advice, and fight to get the card cleared and your credit report cleaned up.

stqueen

Hi,

I thought I would repost as I received a response from Natwest today! :T (After I sent the letter off, I had to call through twice afterwards, first time they said they had not received the letter, second time, after about 35 minutes, to confirm they had received the letter but it had been picked up by the wrong department :mad:)

Anyhow, Natwest have today wrote me a very nice letter, issuing a full apology along with:

• Confirmation that the recorded late payments will be removed from my credit file with immediate effect (which is all I was concerned about, and I guess what I wanted in terms of an outcome)
• £25.00 compensation to cover telephone costs, postage etc.
• 2 bottles of wine in the post

So I'm happy again - my faith in Natwest & their customer service has been restored.

A success story :T

NYGiants

Make sure you forward one of those bottles of wine to izools

stqueen

As it happens, I don't actually like wine! I think I was just grateful for anything at all! I would have preferred a nice big box of chocolates personally but I don't think I'll pursue that one further

fozmcfc

Well done on getting a result. Well done also to Natwest for the compo etc.

briankelleher

I have to say, fair play to Natwest for coming good on this one so quickly and so comprehensively. Gives me faith in them as a customer.