BIG problem with Natwest (and Paypal)

mrcuz

hi there, i'm new here and have decided to join this forum due to a recent mess-up with my bank.

basically, i'm seeking advice on a recent problem I have had with the Natwest.

as this is my first year of not being a student, and having never spent anything on myself, once I received a decent enough payment from my freelance work, I purchased quite a few bargains through eBay some 10 days ago, and spent around £400 using the PayPal service (acquiring some items that would of set me back around £1500 if I went to the shops, so was pretty pleased!).

I checked my balance during the middle of last week and noticed I had an extra £50 in my account, thinking it may be something that hadnt left my account yet. the next day I had an extra £130 on top of that!
it didnt show where this money had come from, so I was puzzled!

this was all viewed through the online banking systme that Natwest offer. I wasnt 100% sure that this was either money from some work I had recently done for someone or a PayPal payment that hadnt went through - so naturally, instead of spending this money, I called up the customer services helpline.

I got through, explained the situation and asked the guy where this cash had came from. the guy says he doesnt know. I ask him if anything is due out of my account then. he says only a payment of £15.75 (I used my card at the supermarket the previous day so knew what that was for, thankfully!).
so, I ask him - if this money isnt due out and you cant tell me where it's come from, are you saying that this money is mine? he says yeah.
then says it might be due to a fault with the bank. a "free" £180? assured by the Natwest?
I thought it was too good to be true. he then said "I would just keep it, if it's not going out then it must appear to be yours."

well - I was absolutely over the moon! thinking that some crazy bank fault had granted me a bit of luck for once, I decided to whack 100 away and went out to watch a band with my friends that night with the rest. happy days, you would think.

the following day I checked my account - arrears of about £150!

I was really annoyed and disappointed but I knew it was too good to be true. part of me felt a little cheated.

it wasnt as if I seen the extra money and went "woah, spending spree!", my first point of call was to ring the bank and ask them exactly why it was there, where it came from, and if it was coming out.

so surely, if a representative from the Natwest tells you that the money is yours and not due to go out - what are you supposed to think???

if I knew this money was going out, I most certainly would not of tucked some of it away and went for a night out. i'm usually quite thrifty with my money, as I have worked really hard to get to where I am after graduating and living from pillar to post for some 4 years!

instead, I found myself out of pocket.

a friend of mine used to work for the Natwest, in a call centre, and he has advised me that all calls are monitored. thankfully - I had noted the time of the call, the chap's name and everything.

it's obvious here now that PayPal and some banks might have issues, but i've never heard of anything like this myself. I feel a bit cheated.
sorry, I actually feel massively cheated!!!

do I have a case here? this may sound really cheeky but I wouldnt mind some form of compensation from them, the money that had me in arrears, as I feel this is gross negligence from Customer Services.
to be frank, if I knew this was going out, I DEFINITELY wouldnt of spent it!

originalmiscellany

I think you will get generally short sharp shrift from this board!
The money you had received was not expected and you couldn't account for it - but you spent it.
I assume you have a budget recording what should have been in your account and you should be able to see that it's clearly more than you should have received.
In the alternative world that you had transferred money from one account to another and it had mistakenly got delivered to another account and you asked for it back only to be told that it had been spent by someone else you'd be pretty annoyed wouldn't you.

I think the only thing you can do is pay it back immediately and be grateful that they don't slap on any charges for going overdrawn etc (if that's relevant to you). The saying "if it looks too good to be true then it probably is" applies to this situation; It happened to me before when I was at uni - I had 178 quid more than I should have had - so I told the bank and held onto it in my current account - about a month later it disappeared again, due to the paper trail being followed up and the money being returned to the rightful owner - I didn't spend it as it wasn't mine to spend.

Hope this resolves speedily though Mrcuz and remember that any "crazy bank fault" will always be fixed!

MonkeyMad

Is this a wind-up?

mrcuz wrote: »

so, I ask him - if this money isnt due out and you cant tell me where it's come from, are you saying that this money is mine? he says yeah.
then says it might be due to a fault with the bank. a "free" £180? assured by the Natwest?
I thought it was too good to be true. he then said "I would just keep it, if it's not going out then it must appear to be yours."

So why didn't you keep it then, instead of spending it? Being a student didn't teach you common sense?

mrcuz wrote: »

do I have a case here? this may sound really cheeky but I wouldnt mind some form of compensation from them, the money that had me in arrears, as I feel this is gross negligence from Customer Services.
to be frank, if I knew this was going out, I DEFINITELY wouldnt of spent it!

I think this illustrates why people will get upset with you - you know you are in the wrong but YOU want some compensation for what you have done. You may or may not have had some poor advice (we don't know exactly what was said, but I would be amazed if a bank employee actually advised you to treat some money that may have been a bank error as your own in a recorded conversation. If that were the case they are as foolish as you) but the result is the same - you had some money you were not entitled to an decided to use it - end of.

roonaldo

mrcuz wrote: »

so surely, if a representative from the Natwest tells you that the money is yours and not due to go out - what are you supposed to think???

!

the money in your account is yours, its just up to you to manage your account and not spend more than you have.

mrcuz

MonkeyMad wrote: »

Is this a wind-up?


So why didn't you keep it then, instead of spending it? Being a student didn't teach you common sense?


I think this illustrates why people will get upset with you - you know you are in the wrong but YOU want some compensation for what you have done. You may or may not have had some poor advice (we don't know exactly what was said, but I would be amazed if a bank employee actually advised you to treat some money that may have been a bank error as your own in a recorded conversation. If that were the case they are as foolish as you) but the result is the same - you had some money you were not entitled to an decided to use it - end of.

lovely.

how am I in the wrong? can't you read properly or did you just wish to flame this post?

if you read it clearly- I DID receive poor advice from Customer Services.

my first point of call was to contact the bank to check where it came from and WHY it was there.

as there had been no indication on my online banking of any credits going into my account, I needed to find out EXACTLY what the hell was going on.
the representative I spoke to told me that this money appeared to have came from nowhere and basically, do what I want with it. he confirmed that I WAS entitled to it.
he actually said something similar happened to him- and he just kept it.
it was not as if I just decided to just go and waste it on the offset!

if i'm TOLD by the bank that this money is mine, that it's not going anywhere, for whatever reason, and I am entitled to it, then, what is supposed to be expected?

it's gross negligence from customer services.
as IF I would feel right spending someone else's money... jeez!

to reply and insult me by saying i'm foolish, "didnt being a student teach me common sense", and you're actually questioning the truth of my situation? (this call had been recorded- so I have all the evidence I need) - please, get a life, "end of"!
didn't your Mum teach you any manners?
or do you just like trolling?

I posted here for advice, not insults. thank you.
please dont come again.

originalmiscellany - thanks for your reply, yep, I didnt expect such a flaming!

of course, everything had been paid back- in fact, straight away the following morning.
I put a large part of it away, as I was not 100% on this issue. as soon as I found out it was transferred over.
in the back of my mind, I was ready just in case this happened.
i'm just very annoyed that my bank can actually mess things up in such a way as this.

the bottom line is- if your bank advised you that you had extra funds available, that it was yours, wasnt gonna go anywhere, and then they take it off you, wouldnt you feel just a little bit cheesed off?

I just find it completely absurd that someone from the Natwest can mislead and actually admit the same happened to them, so they kept it and nothing happened.
it is their mistake. not mine.

FYI - i've spoken to a few people on this. some are friends who have previously worked in the Natwest and other banks, and I have also contacted my bank and raised this issue.
i've fully explained everything to them (went higher than customer services this time, of course) and they have seemed a tad sympathetic on it.
these calls have all been monitored, I have the times, who I spoke to, everything wrote down, and I appear to have some sort of a case here.

the positives to be drawn from this currently, is at least i'll know in future not to trust what the bank says if something like this ever resurfaces.
this may seem futile to some but I really do wish this to be looked into.

roonaldo - I didn't spend more than I had, I manage my accounts very well thank you.

is it not up to my bank to inform me about my ingoings and outgoing clearly- or do we live n a world were people make the rules up as they go along?

Premier_2

mrcuz wrote: »

lovely.

how am I in the wrong? can't you read properly ...

MonkeyMad wrote: »

Is this a wind-up?...

Perhaps you should have made a poll?

Put me down as an Aye. :cool:

mrcuz

Premier wrote: »

Perhaps you should have made a poll?

Put me down as an Aye. :cool:

haha idd

jen245

You didn't receive any extra money in your account. You spent money on ebay, the bank earmarked the funds until the payments were taken, after 48 hours if the payment hasn't come out of the account, the authorisation drops off, and it appears as if the money is available to spend, but it isn't, as the payment is still being processed, and will still come out of your account. I bank with Natwest, and have noticed this when I pay my council tax, as it takes my LA about 4 days to process their payments.
Unfortunately, it is down to you to monitor what is coming in/out of your account. If you had checked your statement, and not just your balance, you'd have noticed that all of your eBay purchases had not come out of your account

roonaldo

mrcuz wrote: »

roonaldo - I didn't spend more than I had, I manage my accounts very well thank you.

mrcuz wrote: »

the following day I checked my account - arrears of about £150!

not a contradiction by any means.

MonkeyMad

I can read perfectly well thank you and even have the qualifications to prove it:)

I don't think I was questioning the truth of what was told to you by NatWest, I was questioning the fact that despite it being blindingly obvious that the money wasn't yours since you had no idea where it came from, you chose to take what most normal people would be able to spot as incredibly bad advice (quite how the bank would know that the money that appeared in a puff of smoke not would go out of your account again in a similar manner is interesting - perhaps they do a line in crystal balls as joining gifts?)