MSE News: RBS punishes basic account holders in ATM crackdown

stclair

willo65 wrote: »

The silver can be credit restricted like the basic account or not credit restricted like the select account so you can get silver without qualifying for the select account.

In theory a Z marker could be put on all the other account types but that would be defeating the banks object.

shadamehr

I feel the desire (not a need, too melodramatic), to chip in with my views, given a considerable amount of "defence" of banks in this.

As this doesn't reflect on my own experiences these many years...

You see, near five years ago, my partner and I applied for an IVA, due to our situation in both of us having lost our jobs, and seeing straight away that we couldn't meet our obligations.

So we took proper advice, spoke to Debt Counselling Services, and Registered Insolvency Practitioners...

And we decided we wanted to progress in such a way that our Credit Score etc was not affected in the same way or to the full same extent that outright (and much easier and less costly and time based) Bankruptcy would leave us, and moreover, try and be responsible in the sense of paying back towards our rightly held debts.

And the specialist advice we received was therefore to apply for an IVA.

And that my friends reading this, was the biggest single mistake in our entire lives.

I could of course end the tale there, but that won't satisfy your curiosities as to WHY it amounted to the biggest mistake ever...

So, I'll continue...

The morning before the date of the Creditors meeting to see if our IVA would even be accepted or not, I went to an ATM near me, to draw out money from my wages that had just gone into my First Direct account.

Only for my card to be instantly swallowed and taken from me by the machne.

So of course I rang the bank, expecting lots of apologies... OH NO SIR... not me...

Far from apolgies, I got the snootiest, most stuck up miserable B.... on this earth, berating me, and demeaning me, by telling me "Your card has been seized because your account has been foreclosed, due to you having been declared bankrupt..."

Ha... she wasn't so snooty when I pointed out to her that:

1) We hadn't been declared bankrupt at all. We had simply applied for an IVA... and moreover...
2) It hadn't even been accepted/passed yet, as it wasn't the Creditors Meeting to decide on it, until the next morning.

So as it stood, that morning, when the bank had closed my account due to "Bankruptcy", I wasn't even ANYTHING... NOTHING was different about me, and First Direct had no legal right to close my account.

Oh boy, did she start back-peddlling like a Cyclist about to go over a cliff...

Of course it was literally too late by then... First Direct had closed my account, and there was no "Un-close" option for even the most senior member of staff to click on.

So they had to arrange to ring the manager of my local HSBC Bank, so that I could go in and draw out all the money on my account.

They had the last laugh though, of course, these poor, suffering terrible, not too blame in any way, victim banks (yeah right).

Because according to them, an IVA is simply viewed as Bankruptcy.

When I tried to explain to them that fundamentally, our ENTIRE REASON FOR TAKING OUT A LONG, PROTRACTED AND FAR MORE COSTLY TO US IVA, was specifically to AVOID the issues associated with Bankruptcy, she actually laughed.. she really couldn't control herself not to. And then replied that nevertheless, The Banking Code allows them to treat an IVA as Bankruptcy, and close my account forthwith. And damn me, after taking advice later to check, I found she was right too - they CAN!

So my entire reason for having a noose round our necks for these near past FIVE YEARS, and costing us £25,000 - to avoid stigma and issues like this, all came crashing down, not even on day one, but before we had even been approved or not for an IVA.

So it has been the biggest mistake of our entire lives, and for those defending the banks, my tale of foreclosure before anything had even been DECIDED, erroneously (they readily admitted that fact), just puts that notion to bed.

And leads me on to my views today...

Whereby I have established with NatWest that I can PAY to move to a Select Silver Account (Credit Restricted version of course), just to be able to use my card at any ATM.

But I CANNOT move to the Select Standard Account, (even credit restricted version), which is of course free, so as to achieve the same aim.

Credit Scoring is about RISK - that is all we are told time and again - the only reason for it is to allow the banks to operate sucessfully, avoiding undue risk.

And this makes a complete mockery of that claim they constantly make, if I can move to a Select SILVER account (credit restricted version), provided I PAY them £8 a month for the privilege...

...But CANNOT move for FREE to a standard Select Account (credit restricted version), even though the Risk situation is the same.

A total mockery of what they claim.

If it's only about risk, how come you'll happily let me move from Step/Basic Bank Account to proper account, provided I pay you money, but you WON'T let me move to a standard account (even credit restriced flagged) if I DON'T pay you money each month?

So..

You want me to feel sorry for banks, running these accounts for us "for free" because they are so nice...?

Pull my other udder folks - it has silver bells on.

You have more chance of getting me to win on Britain's Got Talent (believe me I have none), than feel any sympathy for banks, when they have given me the experiences I've just outlined!

Oh the poor, poor banks... sob sob.

As if...

shadamehr

willo65 wrote: »

The silver can be credit restricted like the basic account or not credit restricted like the select account so you can get silver without qualifying for the select account.

It categorically beggars the blatantly obvious question...

If Select Silver can be "Credit Restricted", just like Basic/Step can, why on earth can't "Select Standard" also be "Credit Restricted" if necessary/appropriate?

Why can you have a restricted version on Silver, but NOT a restricted option on Standard?

And of course the next point is, if you CAN have a Credit Restricted version of Select Standard, why are people being refused it as an upgrade from Step?

(The same people NOT being refused it on Silver, of course...)

chambta

shadamehr wrote: »

It categorically beggars the blatantly obvious question...

If Select Silver can be "Credit Restricted", just like Basic/Step can, why on earth can't "Select Standard" also be "Credit Restricted" if necessary/appropriate?

Why can you have a restricted version on Silver, but NOT a restricted option on Standard?

And of course the next point is, if you CAN have a Credit Restricted version of Select Standard, why are people being refused it as an upgrade from Step?

(The same people NOT being refused it on Silver, of course...)

The answer being that a credit restricted Select Account would defeat the object of the bank's intention.

Poor credit? Eight quid for full ATM access or go for a loss making Basic and accept the restrictions.

jalexa

chambta wrote: »

The answer being that a credit restricted Select Account would defeat the object of the bank's intention.

Poor credit? Eight quid for full ATM access or go for a loss making Basic and accept the restrictions.

Hmm... what can you possibly mean? Are you suggesting that the "free" Select account's days are numbered?

What about "good credit rated" holders of "free" Select accounts who chose either not to have an overdraft limit or who never operate the account in overdraft? "Loss making" to the bank according to the dismissive description of Basic account holders.

Why can't everybody (i.e. Basic customers included) just have the "customer choice" of transaction charges, including "at cost" Link interchange fees (£0.30 approx???) instead of being compelled to choose a packaged account?

jen245

jalexa wrote: »

Hmm... what can you possibly mean? Are you suggesting that the "free" Select account's days are numbered?

What about "good credit rated" holders of "free" Select accounts who chose either not to have an overdraft limit or who never operate the account in overdraft? "Loss making" to the bank according to the dismissive description of Basic account holders.

Why can't everybody (i.e. Basic customers included) just have the "customer choice" of transaction charges, including "at cost" Link interchange fees (£0.30 approx???) instead of being compelled to choose a packaged account?

I think what Chambta means, is the bank is trying to make money from basic account holders, and upgrading them to a credit restricted Select account, is no different than them having a Basic account, as the bank is still not making money from those accounts, as they can't cross sell. So they are only allowing upgrades to the paid for account, to make some money from those customers
Customers who don't have a credit restricted free current account, such as myself, the bank is still making money from us in the form of overdrafts, credit cards etc

jalexa

jen245 wrote: »

Customers who don't have a credit restricted free current account, such as myself, the bank is still making money from us in the form of overdrafts, credit cards etc

Thanks for the response. Let me narrow the question. Will customers who don't use an overdraft, deny marketing consent or pay-off their (bank) credit card every month, soon be "targeted" for being either "loss making" or "not profitable enough"?

And why not "at-cost (£0.30p??)interchange transaction charging" as an alternative to Basic account holders losing Link access?

jen245

jalexa wrote: »

Thanks for the response. Let me narrow the question. Will customers who don't use an overdraft, deny marketing consent or pay-off their (bank) credit card every month, soon be "targeted" for being either "loss making" or "not profitable enough"?

And why not "at-cost (£0.30p??)interchange transaction charging" as an alternative to Basic account holders losing Link access?

I hope not as I'm one of them! I never use my overdraft, and my credit card gets paid in full each month. I also have a little bit in savings with them, so if they try and sneakily upgrade me to the silver, ill just move. I can't see it happening though to be honest. If they were going to do that, they would have just got rid of the free current account when launching this new account range

coolesticeking

Can you get around this by opening a First Reserve account with NatWest or are they changing the Visa Debit Card that comes with this to be RBS Group ATM's only?

jen245

coolesticeking wrote: »

Can you get around this by opening a First Reserve account with NatWest or are they changing the Visa Debit Card that comes with this to be RBS Group ATM's only?

I also suggested this further down the thread. I have a first reserve account, and haven't heard anything about the card changing, so it would be a good workaround, and might perhaps help some with budgeting