Default fee - common practice?

frivolous_fay

Hi all, curious about this one.

Made a whoopsie on the 9th May and made a transaction on a card that didn't have room.
Natwest wrote to me on the 14th May to tell me they had a applied a default fee. I realised my mistake and made a payment on 17th May to bring it back under limit.

Received a second default fee letter today. On querying this, I was told that this was applied because my account was still in default at the start of the May-June statement period. (coincidentally, the 14th May)

So... without my realising I had messed up, purely relying on NatWest's notifications, I would never have been able to avoid the second fee.

Is this usual? If the default fee was incurred on the 9th, shouldn't they have written to me then instead of stalling til the 14th when it was too late for me to avoid the 2nd?

I don't dispute that I incurred the fee, but the tactics seem... dirty.

opinions4u

Ask nicely and they'll probably refund.

p00hsticks

opinions4u wrote: »

Ask nicely and they'll probably refund.

Three working days between the mistake happening and the bank writing to you seems a reasonable timeframe to me - it's unfortunate that it happened to coincide with the start of a new payment cycle.

With the particular dates in this case it's difficult to say whether the double charge is sneaky or just unfortunate. As opinions4u says, phone or write to them, explain the situation, say that you'll be more careful in future and ask nicely for one of the charges to be refunded. Their response will indicate whether they're being intentionally dirty or not.

YorkshireBoy

It's quite common for the 'posting date' to lag behind the 'transaction date' by two working days.

The 9th May was a Thursday, so it's entirely possible they didn't know you were over limit until Monday 13th May. In which case they wrote to you the next day.

You were given the correct information by NatWest. Indeed, here's the relevant condition...

Charges Tariff:

Default Charges

If the account is over the Credit Limit at any time during a statement period: £12

http://www.natwest.com/downloads/personal/nw_sample_tscs.pdf (page 6)

SolidShot

They charge you any excuse?

frivolous_fay

p00hsticks wrote: »

Three working days between the mistake happening and the bank writing to you seems a reasonable timeframe to me - it's unfortunate that it happened to coincide with the start of a new payment cycle.

I actually think they write the letters at the same time every month because the one I got today was also dated the 14th. So I don't think this is personal - anyone must get hit with this issue if they were unaware they'd gone over the limit.

chattychappy

I think the double charge is unreasonable. If you decide you will charge a penalty at the start of a statement period if the account if overlimit, then you can't at the same time charge another penalty for the transaction that triggered that situation when that could be only a day or so earlier.

You are not free to levy penalties because you write the T+Cs that way. They must be a fair reflection of the costs involved. The reason why penalties are generally £12 is because the OFT said they would presume anything above this level would be unfair. Seems to be 2 x £12 is disproportionate in the circumstances.

SolidShot

The point is they look for any way to charge you. Some one I know went £40 over his limit they would not let him take the £40 out but they charged him £40 to send a letter to tell him.