Natwest charged me £35

Lyndsay_21

I checked my balance today and found natwest have charged me £35 anyway i rang up to find out way and when i spoke to someone they said in brief basically i had a direct debit (for £5.50) come out yesterday and because it was sent back they charged me... anyway on saturday just gone my boyfriend had just put £400+ into my account so i knew i had money in there so they passed me onto 'lending' what the guy there said was that because on friday i didnt have enough to cover my direct debit they started to send it back and even though i had money go in on saturday iand it went in on monday it was sent back and i was charged £35 i asked if they could take it off and they said no because of what he'd just explained and stated its in the terms and comditions!!. I'm gutted cos i cant afford to pay the £35. Can they actually do this send back the direct debit on friday when its not due out till monday??

svmitche

You should call them again and ask them to waive the fee due to your previous good custom and calmly cajole them and threaten to take your business elsewhere.

When you phone again if you cannot get round the operator ask to speak to a supervisor and specifically state that you wish to make a complaint about this charge. That will add more weight to your case.

When you are speaking to them it is important to not lose your temper or sound 'desperate' (can't think of another way to put it, sorry). If they think you need the money they'll more likely not give it to you!!

Just explain that you had set up your finances carefully to avoid situations such as this, but something seems to have gone wrong on this occasion. You're reviewing your direct debits to make sure that this does not happen again, but in the meantime, you'd be grateful if they could waive the fee.

If this does not work, a letter to the complaints department or chief executive may be satisfying!

Lyndsay_21

I know what u mean about not sounding 'deperate' but i think i will cry if i have to phone up again. i did ask if they could take the charge off but the guy just explained why and that it was in the terms and conditions. I really dont want to phone up again so do u think i should email someone instead?

grumbler

Lyndsay_21 wrote:

I checked my balance today and found natwest have charged me £35 anyway i rang up to find out way and when i spoke to someone they said in brief basically i had a direct debit (for £5.50) come out yesterday and because it was sent back they charged me... anyway on saturday just gone my boyfriend had just put £400+ into my account so i knew i had money in there so they passed me onto 'lending' what the guy there said was that because on friday i didnt have enough to cover my direct debit they started to send it back and even though i had money go in on saturday iand it went in on monday it was sent back and i was charged £35 i asked if they could take it off and they said no because of what he'd just explained and stated its in the terms and comditions!!. I'm gutted cos i cant afford to pay the £35. Can they actually do this send back the direct debit on friday when its not due out till monday??

Are you familiar with any other punctuation marks besides ‘!!’ and ’??’ ? :rotfl:

Well, if you are sure that DD was due on Monday and you can prove it you have strong grounds for complaining but not for begging them to wave the fee. You must have enough funds on your account at the start of the DD day and you did have enough funds as far as I understand from your one-sentence post.

lipidicman

I dont follow your original post - the DD was meant to go out on monday, but went on Friday? or it was due on friday but came back on Monday when there was money available? if the latter, then the lack of funds on the friday was the problem. If the earlier then somebody messed up! Phone up again and you should get it sorted out.

If it was due on friday and you knew you didnt have the money then it would have been better to stop the DD than incur the charge.

HTH

svmitche

You could do, but if you could either phone or visit a branch you don't give them the excuse of 'we didn't receive it'.

If you can speak to someone face to face, or by phone you at least have a name that you can quote in any future correspondence.

I know it's uncomfortable having to phone and effectively beg for your money back (I know, I've done it too!) but if this is not a regular occurence on your account they have no reason to ignore you - they can regard it as a wrist slap and 'don't do it again' situation.

The thing that you need to remember is that they have unfairly put you in a difficult position by trying to take your direct debit early and mucking up your finances this month. It's their fault, not yours.

If you need to take a day to calm yourself down and gird you loins, as it were, then do so, but please don't give up on this. We can't let the gits win!!

Walletwatch

Lyndsay_21 wrote:

I checked my balance today and found natwest have charged me £35 anyway i rang up to find out way and when i spoke to someone they said in brief basically i had a direct debit (for £5.50) come out yesterday and because it was sent back they charged me... anyway on saturday just gone my boyfriend had just put £400+ into my account so i knew i had money in there so they passed me onto 'lending' what the guy there said was that because on friday i didnt have enough to cover my direct debit they started to send it back and even though i had money go in on saturday iand it went in on monday it was sent back and i was charged £35 i asked if they could take it off and they said no because of what he'd just explained and stated its in the terms and comditions!!. I'm gutted cos i cant afford to pay the £35. Can they actually do this send back the direct debit on friday when its not due out till monday??

There is no way the Bank can send back a Direct Debit unpaid, if it is not yet due. I honestly think that's a load of baloney.

You have not mentioned whether your boyfriend put in the money in cash, or transferred it online from another account with Natwest.

The only scenario where I would expect the above to happen is basically where transactions over the weekend are treated as offline updates, and the actual available balances updated on Monday morning as part of a batch program that is run. If the evaluation of the DD / chqs hitting an account happens before this batch program to update the available balances takes place, then there is a chance that your DD was rejected on the Monday morning, since it did not have enough funds. Remember, one basic assumption I make here is that the amount was TRANSFERRED into your account as a house transfer i.e. from another Natwest account.

If he put it in cash, then unfortunately, you cannot expect it to be available to cover a chq or a DD payment on Monday morning, as this would probably only get checked and added to your available balance later in the day. Since banks do not work over the weekends, and there's no way they can validate cash deposits through ATMs, you cannot expect any cash deposited through a cash machine to be available instantaneously - it needs to undergo checking under dual control by authorised people from the Bank before it reflects on your account.

I agree with the previous poster, but I think the tone of your complaint should depend on whether you have had the funds deposited in cash or have had it internally transferred into your account. If it was an internal transfer, which, one would expect in today's day and age, to update available balances online, you could take on a slightly more aggressive tone. If it was cash deposit, I am afraid, you'll need to request for a refund based on your past conduct of the account, and the unfairness of such a huge amount being charged for such a small debit, etc.

thefirs

grumbler wrote:

Are you familiar with any other punctuation marks besides ‘!!’ and ’??’ ? .........but not for begging them to wave the fee..........from your one-sentence post.

(My underline)

grumbler

Walletwatch wrote:

If he put it in cash, then unfortunately, you cannot expect it to be available to cover a chq or a DD payment on Monday morning

HERE:
If I pay cash into my account when I can I have access to it?
If you pay cash into any NatWest branch in the UK before 3.30pm on a working weekday, it will normally clear the same day.

Well, 'normally' can mean anything...

grumbler

thefirs wrote:

(My underline)

I am ashamed...

Walletwatch

grumbler wrote:

HERE:
If I pay cash into my account when I can I have access to it?
If you pay cash into any NatWest branch in the UK before 3.30pm on a working weekday, it will normally clear the same day.

Well, 'normally' can mean anything...

In this case, the money (if it was deposited in cash) was deposited on a Saturday, not a working weekday, plus it was not deposited at a branch (unless they have branches working on Saturdays), so I'd not expect it to be available first thing Monday morning.