NATWEST hassling me re my overdraft - is this fair!?

amyk_3

Natwest have been calling my home almost every day leaving messages that I need to call them 'urgently.' I did call them back last week and they said that everything was OK regarding my account, no freud had been committed and I was operating my account within the terms and conditions.

I have a Natwest student account, am in my third year of a fourth year course and I have seldom used the account and it is currently £350 into my interest free overdraft. I have never paid my loan into this account and they have never bothered me about it the 3 years I have been with them.

I called them again today and I spoke to someone in their debt department. He was really quite rude to me and started hassling me to pay money into my account, asking how much I would pay in, when I would do it - in fact he has set me a deadline of 4th April, and he even asked to take my card details over the phone. I found this very a very pressured and rude approach, when, as far as I can see, I am well within my overdraft limit and haven't operated my account against their terms and conditions - I even called their hotline to find out the terms and conditions of student accounts, described my situation as if I was a new customer and this is what I intended to do with my account and they said there would be no problem with it.

So, what do I do? They offer students free overdrafts and then when you use this facility, they hassle you to pay it off. I will pay about £25 into my account this afternoon to stop them hassling me, but I am so tempted to take my entire overdraft out and put it into an ING account (I have already used my ISA allowance for this tax year) - just to annoy them! Am I within my rights to do this? I suppose if they want me to make regular payments into the the account, I could pay like £5 a month on and see what they do then!

student100

Disclaimer: the following is not necessary good advice and may be in breach of the T&Cs, or even illegal, but I doubt it...

If I were you I'd just "use" the account a bit more to keep them happy. Withdraw almost all of the overdraft, put it in a high-interest instant access savings account (that way you can pay the money back straight away if they demand that you do).

Then set up a standing order to transfer, say, £5 or £10 a month in to the Natwest account from elsewhere. You could also set up a similar SO from the Natwest account to pay the same money out a few days later...

Having said that, I think some banks make it a part of their T&Cs that for student accounts, in order to get the free overdraft you have to pay in your student loan or similar large sum from time to time?

newfoundglory

There is nothing stopping you taking the full overdraft and using a high interest savings account or ISA. I do this with my Lloyds student account.

If you have a student loan, i'd put as much of that through your natwest current account as possible. Bank like to see large amounts of money going through accounts, even if it doesn't stay in there long.

You could pay all your student loan in, then draw it all out pretty much up to your overdraft limit and put it with ING.

I don't see how they can expect you to make regular payments into the account... only a student loan or work from over the summer.

gizzmo_2

Many years ago when I was student I banked with Natwest and they were horrible to me too. Terrible service, mistakes on my acct etc - they don't seem to recognise students as potential future long term customers. My best friend was with Barclays at the time and they were falling over themselves to be helpful.
Needless to say - as soon as I had graduated and got my first salary paying job as a graduate (quite high paying at the time) - I left Natwest and took my newly found hard-earned cash to Barclays. On closing my acct the advisor at Natwest asked if there was anything they could do to keep me - and I told them that they should look to students as potential future business that could be very lucrative for them, and treat them accordingly.
How very disappointing to hear that they are still doing the same....

I think as a student you are still able to switch, even with an overdraft ....to another bank. If you are willing to go through that hassle - that's what I would recommend you do.

george_2

I used to work for natwest/rbs and as far as I recall you had to pay a minimum amount every 3 or 4 months. However there was nothing to stop you depositing it and immediately withdrawing it again, the deposit was sufficient to meet the terms and conditions. And no there nothing to stop you withdrawing the lot and putting it into savings, but you again have to make the deposit to meet the terms and conditions

sallyholt

amyk wrote:

Natwest have been calling my home almost every day leaving messages that I need to call them 'urgently.' I did call them back last week and they said that everything was OK regarding my account, no freud had been committed and I was operating my account within the terms and conditions.

I have a Natwest student account, am in my third year of a fourth year course and I have seldom used the account and it is currently £350 into my interest free overdraft. I have never paid my loan into this account and they have never bothered me about it the 3 years I have been with them.

I called them again today and I spoke to someone in their debt department. He was really quite rude to me and started hassling me to pay money into my account, asking how much I would pay in, when I would do it - in fact he has set me a deadline of 4th April, and he even asked to take my card details over the phone. I found this very a very pressured and rude approach, when, as far as I can see, I am well within my overdraft limit and haven't operated my account against their terms and conditions - I even called their hotline to find out the terms and conditions of student accounts, described my situation as if I was a new customer and this is what I intended to do with my account and they said there would be no problem with it.

So, what do I do? They offer students free overdrafts and then when you use this facility, they hassle you to pay it off. I will pay about £25 into my account this afternoon to stop them hassling me, but I am so tempted to take my entire overdraft out and put it into an ING account (I have already used my ISA allowance for this tax year) - just to annoy them! Am I within my rights to do this? I suppose if they want me to make regular payments into the the account, I could pay like £5 a month on and see what they do then!

I would recommend you go into a NatWest branch - I used to work for them and know that they take complaints very seriously. As long as youa re within your limit there should be no problem. with regard to being asked to give your card details on the phone this sounds a bit odd - if you have no money then why would they need this? Areyou sure you are calling a NatWest Office. All branches now have direct lines and you can insist that any call centre answeringyour call puts you through to a branch who will resolve what is known asyour 'Customer concern' to your satisfaction and if they are at fault you will get a gift to say sory such as a bottle of wine - so its worth perservering if you know you are not in breach of your overdraft limit. Hpe that is helful.

stuwilky

They do get a bit funny if the account isnt used.

As a poster further up suggested, just pay some money in and withdraw it. As these process are automated it doesnt check where the cash comes from.

My chosen route is "take cash into bank and deposit", "remove cash immediately from cash point outside"


Repeat every other week or so. No problems with RBoS or HSBC.

amyk_3

Thank you all for your responses, they are much appreciated

firrybabe

I'd banked with natwest for about 10 years, and when I went to university they set me up with a student account.

Everything was ok until one day I went into the branch on campus and a member of staff was really rude and unhelpful, so I moved banks. The staff at my local branch knew me and were apologetic on behalf of the campus staff, but it wasn't enough to keep me.

I was never ever asked to fund my account with a student loan, in fact I even remember telling them I hadn't even applied for the loan and it was never a problem. Don't let them pressure you.

Take the 0% money and save it else where. Let it make up for the time it takes them to clear cheques or transfer funds between banks

juno

I make regular deposits of about £1 in mine of usually bags of loose change or try me free cheques and that seems to keep them happy.

asot

Looking at the T&C of this account you will find the following:

(a)Overdrafts are repayable upon demand in accordance with normal banking practice. This means that at any time we may, on giving you written notice, withdraw your right to overdraw the account and demand immediate repayment of the overdraft. If we demand repayment of the overdraft, you must immediately stop issuing cheques and making withdrawals on the account.

So technically they can demand you pay your overdraft back, but since they haven't given you written notice they cannot demand as yet. Of course they shouldn't be demanding it back off you really anyway, I've never heard of a case like this before. It's definately not a good way to boost customer loyalty.