Nationwide - overdrawn and need advice

LFryer87_2

Hey everyone, could do with a bit of advice here.

basically I have 2 bank accounts, my Nationwide account being my secondary account that I have previously used for Paypal/eBay. The last time I used my account was in November, but since then I have made various online purchases that have taken me overdrawn (accidentally obviously).

This is what I think has happened. When I have purchased something online, Paypal has requested money initially from my Paypal funds. Failing that, it then requested funds from my Nationwide account, only to find out the funds were also insufficient, it then completed the transaction with funds from my Primary bank account.

I'm guessing that each time Paypal has requested money from my Nationwide account (and failed) a charge has incurred. I never realised this was happening and because of this, I have accumulated charges to a sum of about £160 over the past few months. I should have been checking my bank statements but because I thought my account had been inactive, I didn't bother (I don't need lecturing on this please).

I'll try keep it as short as possible now, sorry...

I went in to my local Nationwide a few weeks ago, told them my situation they cancelled my direct debit and they told me to take it up with Paypal. I did and I got a response and they pinned the blame on Nationwide (to put it blunt). Went in to my Local Nationwide branch last week and told them my situation, the woman I spoke to told me she had e-mailed her manager and that I should wait for a response regarding reversal of the charges. Although she did make it clear that it was highly unlikely they would all be reversed, even though this is the first time it has happened.

She also told me I should ring lending control in order to freeze my account, until I get word back regarding these charges being credited back to my account. But then I would have to agree to pay a monthly fee. I am currently claiming JSA, that is my only income and I have direct debits/bills/etc... to pay, so obviously I can't just clear this debt in 1 go. Plus, I also read that it is illegal for them to take money from any kind of benefits?

What are my options? Is their anyone I can write to, ring or e-mail in order to completely erase these charges or even close my account? Obviously I'll wait for a response regarding reversal of these charges first, but I don't like the idea of paying back over £100 for something that is maybe partially my fault, but completely unlawful...


Thanks all for your time.

Button_Princess

I will be watching this thread with interest as I am in a similar situation due to paypal and an account I no longer use with Halifax. I feel so stupid and don't have the money to clear the charges or the overdraft I now find myself in! I will always be shutting down accounts when I move banks now!

LFryer87_2

Well it's slightly relieving I'm not the only one with this problem. I'm so used to not being able to go into an unauthorised overdraft/overdrawn with my primary YB account, so I never really bother checking statements anyway... F***ing small print.

Button_Princess

I am juts so cross wiht myself for not realising, it's only been a couple of little transactions that have sneaked through but wiht charges and interest it's piled up and as I am paper free and no longer use the account (or so I thought!) i haven't been into my online banking in about a year until I recieved a call from my bank today!

LFryer87_2

Same happened with me, I feel your pain except mine was only 4 months or so, not a year... hope you can get something sorted.

Premier_2

LFryer87 wrote: »

...Is their anyone I can write to, ring or e-mail in order to completely erase these charges or even close my account? ...

Sorry it may not be what you want to hear but it's very unlikely that you'll get that amount of charges completely erased.

It's also unlikely that the bank will allow you to close your account until the amount owed is paid.

In the meantime, I suggest you spend some time getting your paypal account set up better, or if you don't have any alternative way of setting it up, don't use paypal.
Buying things with money you don't have nearly always results in you paying a lot more in the long run.

podperson

LFryer87 wrote: »

What are my options? Is their anyone I can write to, ring or e-mail in order to completely erase these charges or even close my account? Obviously I'll wait for a response regarding reversal of these charges first, but I don't like the idea of paying back over £100 for something that is maybe partially my fault, but completely unlawful...

Probably not what you want to hear but you had your Paypal account set up with this bank account as your primary payment method - therefore it is a little more that 'maybe partially' your fault - and while you may think the charges are unfair I don't see in what way you could argue they are unlawful. The bank has said they will look into refunding some of the charges which is the best you can hope for in the circumstances.

LFryer87_2

I understand what you're saying and thanks for replying,b ut first of all I want to make sense of it, because to me it makes none at all!

Okay... I had 4 returned direct debits for having no funds in my account and I WAS NOT charged for these.

Eventually I do have funds in account and I start using my NW account to purchase goods, my balance gets to £28.27 and 6 days later I'm hit with £60 in charges!

I need this explaining (please...) before I speak to anyone at Nationwide, who will no doubt be so demeaning that I will have no choice but give in and accept what ever BS they tell me.

I don't know if this is the best of ideas but I've took a screenshot of my statement:

http:// i53.tinypic.com/2cqfod4.jpg (remove the space)

LFryer87_2

This is an e-mail I got from Paypal aswell:

"Thank you for contacting PayPal.

We checked your transaction records from 1 November 2011 up to op present and provided are the payments being funded by your bank ending in XX70 which was reversed or gained a 'Failed Bank Transfer' error.

12 November 2010 - payment to Sadia Khan - 94L474225B828313Y - This transaction is for £12.99 GBP but since you have £11.91 GBP on your PayPal balance, we tried to request for £1.08 GBP from your bank ending in XX70 however, the request was returned so the payment was completed by the card ending in XX90

13 November 2010 - payment to Chris Pickersgill - 50J10675UF1996619 - This transaction amounting to £7.70 GBP was also completed by your card ending in XX90.

19 January 2011 - payment to William Hill - 5YC09478Y3228872W - This transaction is for £12.00 GBP but since you have £1.00 GBP on your PayPal balance, we tried to request for £11.00 GBP from your bank ending in XX70 however, the request was returned so the payment was completed by the card ending in XX90

So far, the total amount of the returned request from the bank in query has a total of £19.78 GBP from 1 November 2010 up to present. Also, PayPal does not charge any fees when it comes to ACH returns since the reversed payments were completed by your back up funding sources.

We strongly suggest that you contact your bank and enquire for the amounts and date of the payments that gave you an outstanding balance of
- £102.90 GBP.

Please let me know through email or you can contact us at 08707 307 191 if you need further assistance.



Thank you for choosing PayPal.

Yours sincerely,
Racy

PayPal

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podperson

Charges won't come out of your account as soon as the direct debits are returned - it's usually a month later to allow you to put money in the account to cover them (well in an ideal world anyway!) If it's quite a long time after when they have taken the charges out then check with them what they're for. They should be informing you of charges to be taken on the account - although if you have paperless billing I think they are allowed to just inform you on there.

LFryer87_2

I'm starting to make a bit more sense out of it all now... I was told that I could offer to pay them back £5 or so a month, is this not illegal if my only form of income is benefits? I heard somewhere that it was illegal for a bank to take money from your bank account if that was your only form of income.

What are my options do I have if I simply can not afford to pay this amount (If any!?), yet?