Natwest and their CMS

looktothefuture

A few months ago my partner moved from Natwest where he held an Advantage Gold account (fee account!) to Lloyds. He still owed £700 on his overdraft at Natwest and had been paying in money each month to bring this down and also the £12 toward the fee for the advantage gold subscription. We informed Natwest by telephone to stop the subscription for the advantage account and move him onto a normal current account and they refused as he would have to visit his branch in person to do this - his branch is in another town and he is unable to get there so we wrote a letter to the bank. We then stopped paying the subscription but kept putting in £20 to bring down the overdraft.

We were unaware that the subscription had not been cancelled. A month ago we received a statement from Natwest to say that for each day he was over the overdraft limit he would be charged £6.00 and that £243 would be taken from his account on or before the 25th. This would then put him that amount over his overdraft figure which would mean that he would incurr extra charges.

We have now written a standard template letter and included his SOA to ask if we could a)change the account to a normal current account, b) consider halting any interest if we paid in what was over his overdraft and c) consider £50 a month toward the overdraft. They've refused and closed the account! They've also passed the account onto their CMS department.

What happens next? My other half has offered what he can toward the overdraft, he won't be able to increase the amount he can pay and they'll only recieve the same letter and SOA we sent to Natwest!

Advice appreciated.

ps... i'm an old hat at DFW... but I can't remember what I did when I was in this position... I'm sure I've done the process correctly...

Tixy

Closing the account and passing to collections is pretty standard.

When they contact you just send the same letter detailing the repayment offer and make sure you make the £50 a month repayment you have offered - if you can no longer pay it to the account direct then ask them for their bank details so you can set up a standing order or at a push even send by cheque.

The collections team might have more authority to accept the payments. They'll probably send out a default notice so that they can register a default on his credit file.

looktothefuture

Tixy wrote: »

Closing the account and passing to collections is pretty standard.

When they contact you just send the same letter detailing the repayment offer and make sure you make the £50 a month repayment you have offered - if you can no longer pay it to the account direct then ask them for their bank details so you can set up a standing order or at a push even send by cheque.

The collections team might have more authority to accept the payments. They'll probably send out a default notice so that they can register a default on his credit file.

Thanks Tixy, i thought it was pretty standard for them to close the account and pass it to collections - whew... doubted myself for a little bit!

copperboom_2

Just to let you know - I used to work for Natwest and sadly, I don't think a letter will stop the Ad Gold charge even now you're in collections.

It's an awful system but literally the only way you can downgrade is by going into branch and signing a form. And even then you might face trouble as the branch staff hate downgrading cos it counts against their bonus - they have been known to tell people they have to ring up, sending them in circles.

I know you say your nearest branch is in the next town but I really would implore you to go in. It's the only way to stop the charge.

timbstoke

If you've asked them in writing to cancel the account, and that letter is signed, I'm pretty sure that qualifies regardless of any 'form' you need to fill in - if they wanted a specific form, they should have sent it to you at that point.

I'd go on the offensive here - calculate how much the bank have charged you since you told them in writing to cancel the account, including any additional charges that you have incurred as a result of them taking the subscription fee. Itemise this, and send it to the bank with a copy of the original letter and a covering letter telling them that you are raising a formal complaint and that you expect all charges applied since you instructed them to cancel to be removed, or you will go to the ombudsman, and then court if that doesn't get a result.

If the circumstances are as you describe, I'd expect them to back down immediately. If not, keep pushing - they'll almost certainly back down before court, because it sounds very much to me like you'd win.

copperboom_2

timbstoke wrote: »

If you've asked them in writing to cancel the account, and that letter is signed, I'm pretty sure that qualifies regardless of any 'form' you need to fill in - if they wanted a specific form, they should have sent it to you at that point.

I'd go on the offensive here - calculate how much the bank have charged you since you told them in writing to cancel the account, including any additional charges that you have incurred as a result of them taking the subscription fee. Itemise this, and send it to the bank with a copy of the original letter and a covering letter telling them that you are raising a formal complaint and that you expect all charges applied since you instructed them to cancel to be removed, or you will go to the ombudsman, and then court if that doesn't get a result.

If the circumstances are as you describe, I'd expect them to back down immediately. If not, keep pushing - they'll almost certainly back down before court, because it sounds very much to me like you'd win.

They may cancel now she's sending a letter and SOA to collections if she's lucky, but she certainly won't be reimbursed for fees paid between the first letter requesting to cancel and the account being sent to collections. It's standard policy that customers have to go into branch to downgrade and we did have customers threaten court action before - it's a horrible policy but apparently completely enforceable.

looktothefuture

It is a shocking policy and one I think I'll try find out alot more about because when I went through this with them, they put an immediate stop to any interest or charges as the account was closed - however, they have stated in their letter that all charges and interest will carry on until CMS draw up their default notice! Grrrr, they entice you to take out this lovely account for the perks but to cancel it is a pain in the bum! Grrr!

copperboom_2

looktothefuture wrote: »

It is a shocking policy and one I think I'll try find out alot more about because when I went through this with them, they put an immediate stop to any interest or charges as the account was closed - however, they have stated in their letter that all charges and interest will carry on until CMS draw up their default notice! Grrrr, they entice you to take out this lovely account for the perks but to cancel it is a pain in the bum! Grrr!

I can only apologise on behalf of my former employers! I hated absolutely everything about working for that place. Some of their practices are disgusting, I wish I could convince all personal customers to leave them.

allydowd

What you do is this:

Go into a NatWest branch (I know that's gonna be a pain). Say that you want "a concern logged immediately" and that you "want a response within 5 working days in line with Commitment number 12 of the Customer Charter because the account was not downgraded causing numerous unauthorised transactions, namely the monthly account fees."

looktothefuture

allydowd wrote: »

What you do is this:

Go into a NatWest branch (I know that's gonna be a pain). Say that you want "a concern logged immediately" and that you "want a response within 5 working days in line with Commitment number 12 of the Customer Charter because the account was not downgraded causing numerous unauthorised transactions, namely the monthly account fees."

Haha, found this about their charter a few months ago - brilliant! :rotfl:

peainapod

You asked them what you had to do to downgrade, they told you what you had to do, go in to branch. You didn't do what they told you, instead you wrote them a letter, sent it off, did you bother ringing to check they got it ? Or that the request had been dealt with before just going ahead and stopping paying the subscription ? No.
I'm not having a go at all, sorry if it sounds harsh, its just when dealing with banks, council etc you dont just send a letter and carry on, you send a letter (with recorded delivery, because the first thing they'll say is they never got a letter), keep a copy, then call and make sure they got it, and keep calling until it's dealt with, once its dealt with, then stop paying the subscription.
Technically they've done nothing wrong, check the terms and conditions of your account, chances are it says there the only way to downgrade is to come into branch and sign the form, if it does say that then you've had it, you'll have to pay up. Check though you never know, if what 'copperboom' says is right and they really do tell people nonsense to send them in circles then maybe you didn't have to go in after all. Start at the terms and conditions if I were you and see who's in the wrong first, if it's you then you need to make a financial plan for paying back the debt before it goes too far and ruins your credit rating, if its them then go at them like a bull in a china shop !
Good luck with it all !