Advice on NatWest charges please

Fergie42

Hi

I had some 'issues' with NatWest and I closed my account whilst still being 6k overdrawn. OK I owe this money I know this but whilst lookling around this site I have seen the templates for re-claiming charges so I downloaded the last 6 years statements and to my horror my charges exceeded 8 thousand pounds! One month alone they took over 1300 pounds in charges and I only earn 2k a month.

So off to the FOS I went. Now granted this has dragged on as they sent it back and said I should contact the bank first. I did this and they spent so long 'looking' at it before saying no that they sent 100 cheque for the inconvenience. Banked this and told them I was still going to the FOS.

Anyway, needless to say a solicitor got in touch on behalf of Natwest saying I owed 7k and how was I going to pay it (more charges now added on)

I replied that I was waiting to hear from the FOS about the charges. They sent another letter saying I hadn't responded so I sent an e-mail saying again I was with the FOS as the charges were way out of line and excessive to say the least.

Low and behold yesterday I get a county court form in the post (1 each for me and hubby as joint account) saying they had 'complied, as far as necessary, with the pre-action conduct practice direction'.

Well quite frankly I don't think they have. I have told them the situation and they haven't given me time to either get the charges refunded (unlikely I know ) or come to some other arrangement to pay the debt (don't want this outcome)

So folks, I need some advice. I want to defend this claim and scream and shout about the charges because I was going to take them to court when/if the FOS refuse my argument.
What should I do next please?

meer53

So did you go back to the FOS ? When Natwest offered you £100, what did they say it was for ?

I find it hard to believe you could have been charged £1300 in one month in bank fees, most banks cap their fees, where i work it's £150 per month

As the court case in 2009 ruled in favour of the banks, i don't think you'll get anywhere further with this.

Fergie42

meer53 wrote: »

So did you go back to the FOS ? When Natwest offered you £100, what did they say it was for ?

I find it hard to believe you could have been charged £1300 in one month in bank fees, most banks cap their fees, where i work it's £150 per month

As the court case in 2009 ruled in favour of the banks, i don't think you'll get anywhere further with this.

Hi

I'll answer this one at a time:

I currently am still with the FOS as I told them (Solicitors) last week before the court paper arrived. Just waiting for the FOS to reply as they have acknowledged they have received everything.

The cheque was described as a goodwill gesture because they had kept us waiting so long whilst they 'looked into' our complaint.

I find it hard to believe this too but I can assure you it is true. I know the last couple of years charges have been capped but when this occurred (sept 08 from memory) they were still hammering the charges on whenever they felt like it.

Thanks for your response anyway even though you can offer no advice or support.

meer53

The FOS are inundated with complaints at the moment due to PPI claims, my sister in law has been waiting 11 months for a response to a complaint she has made.

Don't ignore the letter you have just received. If you do you may find that they will take you to court. I'd get some advice from a solicitor if i were you.

Did you query the charges at the time they were applied ?

Fergie42

meer53 wrote: »

The FOS are inundated with complaints at the moment due to PPI claims, my sister in law has been waiting 11 months for a response to a complaint she has made.

Don't ignore the letter you have just received. If you do you may find that they will take you to court. I'd get some advice from a solicitor if i were you.

Did you query the charges at the time they were applied ?

Thanks Meers

I thought the solicitors might wait really until the FOS responded given that they have stated they have complied with blah, blah stuff - might look into this actually

I did complain at the time but got nowhere then either.

I was just hoping that someone could come along and 'say defend the ccj and say this' or forget it and give in.

I am not going to forget it anyway and I'm just going to make a nuisance of myself and hope they lose the paperwork etc before court - could happen as they have been so disorganised so far.

Anyway, thanks again for replying

Little_Mo_70

Fergie42 wrote: »

Thanks Meers

I thought the solicitors might wait really until the FOS responded given that they have stated they have complied with blah, blah stuff - might look into this actually

I did complain at the time but got nowhere then either.

I was just hoping that someone could come along and 'say defend the ccj and say this' or forget it and give in.

I am not going to forget it anyway and I'm just going to make a nuisance of myself and hope they lose the paperwork etc before court - could happen as they have been so disorganised so far.

Anyway, thanks again for replying

Meer53 gave you some excellent advice. I too feel you would not be successful with your defence based on the reason for your complaint to the FOS, that the charges are way out of line and excessive. This isn't a good reason to complain about charges and doesn't fit into their criteria. If this is going to be your defence in court then you are doomed to lose and it could cost you even more.

I also agree that it is unwise to ignore demand letters. Neither the solicitor nor the court are interested in waiting for a FOS decision. It would have been better to strike a deal to pay the debt off at an affordable rate although you say you don't want this outcome.

Pride and principals can be costly. You really need to think this through. Do I have a strong case to defend / do I have a good reason for incurring these costs? What did you say to the bank when you approached them at the time and what did they say? (That can be important because if you were in genuine financial hardship and they offered no help or sound advice it could be seen they hadn't treated you fairly).

Screaming and shouting may make you feel better but is not constructive in this situation.. Believe me none of us likes to incur charges, whatever the reasons be they self inflicted or beyond our control.

Not sure whether any one would say defend the ccj without knowing the circumstances which led to your large debt in the first place. Was it hardship?

The FOS will check out the account management - provided by the bank - carefully to see how the overspending occurred, ie: cost of living expenses and financial difficulties or 'account abuse'.
Don't hold your breath though, I've been waiting 12 months for outcomes of some of mine and still get updates from FOS saying very busy due to large volume of claims etc. and they are still pending.

Sorry if my comments seem too be on the negative side. I hope it all works out for you.

ILW

You cannot just close an account with an overdraft on it.

Fergie42

ILW wrote: »

You cannot just close an account with an overdraft on it.

They closed it. I asked if we could come to some agreement and pay the OD off monthly if they froze the interest. They pretty much laughed at this one so I moved to another bank and they eventually closed the account - several charges and months of interest later I hasten to add.

Thanks for all the other replies above. I have since took legal advice and I am defending and counter-claimimg at the moment.

There was another law brought in after the ruling and the solicitor feels I have a strong case as all my communication and attempts to resolve the situation were ignored.

meer53

I can't believe that Natwest ignored your attempts to contact them about repaying your debt. I think you'll find that they probably have evidence of how they have tried to contact you and whether you responded. This also applies to the DCA who now have the debt.

Your account was probably closed when the debt was passed to a DCA, they will have contacted you in the last 6 years, did you ignore them ? If you did, then this is why you're now in this situation.

What "other" law is your solicitor referring to ?

Fergie42

meer53 wrote: »

I can't believe that Natwest ignored your attempts to contact them about repaying your debt. I think you'll find that they probably have evidence of how they have tried to contact you and whether you responded. This also applies to the DCA who now have the debt.

Your account was probably closed when the debt was passed to a DCA, they will have contacted you in the last 6 years, did you ignore them ? If you did, then this is why you're now in this situation.

What "other" law is your solicitor referring to ?

I thought you were being sarcastic until I carried on reading and saw you actually meant the underlined above. Heavens knows if they did have any 'evidence' of their attempts to resolve the situation they have probably lost it as their administration is the worst I have ever encountered.

Dear God......you must live in quite an idealistic world.

Yes they did ignore me and I have letters too!!!!

The law is something like BCOBS.

I'm glad that in your world the banks hold such high esteem but I think you'll find that for the majority of people they are mindless, scheming, money grabbing monsters,

meer53

Fergie42 wrote: »

I thought you were being sarcastic until I carried on reading and saw you actually meant the underlined above. Heavens knows if they did have any 'evidence' of their attempts to resolve the situation they have probably lost it as their administration is the worst I have ever encountered.

Dear God......you must live in quite an idealistic world.

Yes they did ignore me and I have letters too!!!!

The law is something like BCOBS.

I'm glad that in your world the banks hold such high esteem but I think you'll find that for the majority of people they are mindless, scheming, money grabbing monsters,

I don't live in an idealistic world but i do work for a bank and have worked for Natwest. I currently deal with cases exactly the same as yours, people who incur large amounts of charges and then blame the banks for their mismanagement. There are genuine cases of hardship and these are dealt with sympathetically by banks, IF it truly is hardship. A bank would never pass on a debt to a DCA without contacting their customer first, there are procedures that have to be followed before this can be done. If customers ignore any attempts to contact them, then they really have no cause for complaint when the debt becomes due.

When you closed your account 6 years ago, owing 6k, what did you think was going to happen ? What were the "issues" you had with Natwest ? The answer to this question is important, the FOS will contact Natwest for their side of the story. If you knew about this debt, why haven't you done something about it in the last 6 years ? It seems to me that you may have been hoping it would be written off, you can't just walk away from 6k worth of debt. If someone owed you 6k what would you do ?

Screaming and shouting about this isn't going to get you anywhere, with anyone. You need to take action now, do what you should have done 6 years ago.

I appreciate that you don't like my comments but the way i read it, you've been happy to wait for the last 6 years and not do anything, and now that the !!!! has hit the fan, you blame everyone but yourself.