Nationwide credit card hidden charges

allfrey

Beware, Nationwide are making direct debit authorities set up to pay credit card bills "dormant" without telling customers. If you then use your card, assuming it will be paid by a direct debit, they levy a £12 "returned payment fee" and a £12 "late payment fee" plus interest.
Detail

I have a NW credit card that I only use abroad and for euro transactions in this country. I was sent a letter saying I needed to use it, if they were to issue a new card. I and duly used it for a small purchase. The usual bill arrived saying the balance would be collected by direct debit. A month later the next statement showed a direct debit payment, followed by a "payment reversal" offsetting the direct debit. I was charged a total of £24 in fees (£12 "returned payment fee" and a £12 "late payment fee") plus interest.


I assumed there was something wrong with my direct debit authority but checked my bank account on-line and all seemed in order. I phoned NW and it took some 10-15 minutes for my call to be answered (on a 0845 number). When I eventually got through the person at the call centre explained that NW themselves make direct debit authorities "dormant" if they have not been used for 3-6 months. They did agree to waive the fees.


It seems totally unreasonable that a credit card company should make your direct debit authority dormant without informing you, particularly when their bills say the payment will be collected by direct debit and there is no warning in the letter they send to you when your account has not been used for some time that your direct debit authority will not work.

chattychappy

This is the kind of reason I never use DDs. So many threads where people have fallen foul of some kind of "funny" like this.

Better to check your statement and simply the send the amount you wish to pay.

Degenerate

allfrey wrote: »

When I eventually got through the person at the call centre explained that NW themselves make direct debit authorities "dormant" if they have not been used for 3-6 months. They did agree to waive the fees.

They had to waive them, they didn't have a leg to stand on. The normal expiration period for a dormant DD mandate is 13 months, and they have a duty to inform you when it approaches. If Nationwide are killing them after 3-6 months, it's an aberrant practice on their part. If they still send out statements saying the DD will be collected, then it just shows they're not even internally consistent. And which is it, 3 or 6 months? There ought to be a consistent cut-off.

It sounds more like you were being fobbed off, and the early expiry is a systems error rather than deliberate policy. It's not in their interests to intentionally reject payments they are able to collect.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

I guess Nationwide's policy is buried deep in the small print but it does seem a pretty pointless exercise on their part. What does it save them in the overall scheme of things? A miniscule amount of computer storage possibly?

And 3-6 months of non-use seems a very imprecise criterion. My wife has a Nationwide CC which she got mainly for foreign use so we'll have to check the T&Cs for ourselves.

bubieyehyeh

Something similar happened to me with nationwide credit card. My direct debit became dormant after more than 13 months. My direct debit then failed and I got charged the £24 in charges also. They removed them when I rang and paid the bill by a debit card. My bank (not nationwide) tells me then have to remove direct debits after 13 months of non-use, but the other party will be warned and so nationwide should have re-requested the direct debit be re-setup. They clearly didn't.

When I rang and paid the bill, the said they would setup the direct debit again, a month later get a statement which says bill will be taken by direct debit. I check my bank and the direct debit is not listed as being setup. So ask Nationwide to check, they say it is. A few weeks later the direct debit fails again, another £24 in charges, again removed when i rang and paid by debit card.

They have finally setup direct debit again, but they needed to delete it, wait a day and then set it up again, before it showed at my bank.

Seriously unimpressed by Nationwide and how they handled it.