natwest advantage gold mis sold

boblita

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Hi,
I've just helped my partner write a letter to natwest asking them why he was given an advantage gold account in which he was paying £13 a month for. He was never told why he had to have it or told the benefits. It was only when he was getting more and more overdrawn due to not being able to afford the fees my mum said he should cancel this account as she had been given it and it apparently only benefits you if you're a home owner, you travel and covers your phone. All advantages my partner didn't know about, or need! We went in and asked to speak to a member of staff about it and she said he could cancel but she didnt explain why he had it in the first place. He asked if the fees could be put back on his account to which she said no but he really did need to sort his overdraft out, to which she turned to me and offered to look into a loan for me so I could clear his debt!!! Cheeky so & so. I said no as i also had a loan to pay off and we would never expect each other to clear debts we incurred befored we met. We left and about 45 min later she phoned my boyfriend asking to speak to me, again trying to convince me to take out a loan. This was 4 years ago, and the reason why he's not tried harder to get his fees back or complain about the way they try and get sales is because we had a young baby at the time and we were young ourselves so you never know what your entitled to or even just have the confidence to query. What are his chances of being given back his fees and the interest? My mum got all hers back when she queried why she had an adntage gold. He has stressed in the letter how he feels that the fee for this account contributed to him going over his overdfraft limit and also the fact that they obviously use any means to sell products which is disgusting. Any advice would be great. Many thanks.

StuC75

So for how many years did he happily see this fee go out of the account? without questioning what he was getting from it.. Is it just me that thinks he mis-bought the service (no real benefit) as opposed to it being Mis-sold (which seems to be the in buzz word)..
In the past people used to like the fact that they got a shiny card for that account which looked better than the standard card.

boblita

As I said, he was very young. If you're not told what its for or why you have it but have been given it, why would you query? He didn't happily see this money go out, he just assumed that was normal so just excepted it. Then my mum offered advice as she had been through the same. He certainly didn't mis buy, he was just given that account, as was my mum without being given other options. He would have certainly cancelled earlier if he knew. Natwest didn't even explain what the benefits were when we did ask when he cancelled. You learn as you get older to query everything, but unfortunatly I have experienced banks taking advantage of youngsters without explaining everything and not everyone has someone around them to ask for advice.

magpiecottage

I would make a complaint that the account sold to you was unsuitable as it incurred fees but the supposed benefits were not explained and turned out to be of no value.

If necessary take it to FOS

PrincessPlaty

When i opened my account with natwest (around 5 years ago) during the process i was told that i was eligible for the advantage gold account and what the benefits of it were, they went through the benefits of all their advantage cards to see if one would benefit me and was told that at any time i could cancel. I opted for the advantage blue as it worked out cheaper than my mobile phone insurance was costing on its own without the other benefits. When it came to cancelling it was done no questions asked.

I find it hard to believe after all the detail natwest went into with me that they would just give this account put with no explanation.

StuC75

If I am paying for something then I do question what it is for and check for any alternatives; if I dont like the offer \ terms then I dont proceed.. Suppose thats why I never had PPI insurance.

Banks will always try to sell you there products, its up to the consumer to know if that is good for them \ suitable. If they fail to do that then its Mis-buying.

Am I in the minority to think this? Or does all banks have to have our interests at heart?

pop_gun

StuC75 wrote: »

If I am paying for something then I do question what it is for and check for any alternatives; if I dont like the offer \ terms then I dont proceed.. Suppose thats why I never had PPI insurance.

Banks will always try to sell you there products, its up to the consumer to know if that is good for them \ suitable. If they fail to do that then its Mis-buying.

Am I in the minority to think this? Or does all banks have to have our interests at heart?

The concept of good faith doesn't exist in english law. Though there is something called misrepresentation (lying to us common folk) and that's illegal. I had an advantage gold account and was told I couldn't have an overdraft without having the account. This was a misrepresentation as I no longer have an AG account, but I still have a overdraft facility.
I was also told I would have travel insurance, but when I went to insure myself I was told i had to pay a premium. I wasn't instantly covered as I was led to believe.
Under the terms and conditions of the advantage gold account I had purchase protection insurance. When I tried to make a claim, the bank refused. The advantage gold protection team then proceeded to lie to me and said I wasn't entitled to a refund because I had used my debit card. When their t&c explicitly state all purchases have to made through your debit card.

OP, you can either do one of three things. 1. write to Natwest complaints department and tell them you believe the advantage gold account was mis sold. Request the fee back. 2. Take the the matter to the financial ombudsman. In my personal experience they are useless. They are useless because they are funded by the banks. They don't have to follow any rule of law whatsoever when coming to a decision. Please note you aren't bound by their decision. Which brings me to step 3. Take them to court.

p.s. complain to the financial services authority, if enough of us do so they will have to investigate. This is what led to the recent PPI high court case which the banks lost. For the judgement see http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2011/999.html

talana

boblita wrote: »

As I said, he was very young. If you're not told what its for or why you have it but have been given it, why would you query? ............

Wow, bizarre statement.
Why would you query? BECAUSE you weren't told what it was for or why you've been given it. Simple

Goldietoo

Hi
I lost my husband 6 years ago, we had banked with NatWest for many years, and always had their credit cards. when he died and I was dealing with his estate I was told that the card couldn't be transferred to me as I was a second card holder, so I stopped it and took out a card elsewhere.
Some months later I noticed a debit on my bank statement that I didn't recognise and phoned to ask what it was, and was told that it was an insurance charge for the card that no longer existed.
This was very upsetting at the time, so I sent an e mail of complaint to NatWest that has never been acknowleged. I closed the acount with them and got on with my life.
Now I am wondering if this had been charged for all of the years that he held the card without him noticing, it only came to my attention after he had died and the card was cancelled.
I contacted Nat West and they gave me an adress to write to to try to trace the account and tell me if I had a claim, but reading these threads, I don't know what to do if they refuse.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?

mallybee

Hi

When my girlfriend applied for a mortgage with Nat West we were told that if we took out an Advantage Gold account we would qualify for a lower mortgage rate. She has continued to pay for the account for over two years now.

Does this sound like 'mis-selling'. I've had a look at a few sites including the Nat West site and i can't find any correspondence to a lower mortgage fee with this account. Has this benefit ever been part of the account?

Thank you for your help.

Mally