Natwest Banking Broken

Midzone

1. With rubbish interest rates for savings including a recent reduction in some ISA's, a very poor infrastructure resulting in several technical issues with people not having access to their own money - what incentive is there to bank with NatWest? What would you say to those customers who are today looking at other banking arrangements?

2. Why did the NatWest webpage NOT update customers with the latest situation? One of the biggest gripes with customers is the lack of information supplied regarding the problems - what is being done to address this?

3. After the major calamity of 2012 the then CEO Stephen Hester promised customers he would report fully to customers on the problems and what RBS were doing to avert the issue again. We are still waiting for that report.

Doshwaster

opinions4u wrote: »

Bank systems can and will go down. I'd be surprised if, over the last few years, any bank has avoided a situation like RBS / Nat West enjoyed last night.

Although they do have more form than most.

So while I'd always encourage leaving a bank that regularly naffs you off, make sure you do so with precautions.

Primary account with one banking group
Secondary account with another banking group
Savings account with an ATM card with another banking group
A small amount of cash in a drawer, just in case
Credit cards with two different banking groups too

Your bank systems can fail. The payments system can fail. ATM networks can crash. They usually recover.

That's what I do. My main accounts are with HSBC and even though I've never known their whole network to go down, I keep £100 in a Nationwide current account and have a Barclaycard for emergencies. I keep these spare cards separate from my wallet and well hidden at home.

It all goes back to the old proverb of not keeping all of your financial eggs in one basket.

Sinhanada

Why has this happened again? What proof do you need that we have been out of pocket by this?

j.smith1981

pineapple wrote: »

Or even a larger amount of cash and preferably not in a drawer.
And a basic food stock - I'm amazed that some people even said they had to go hungry.

I think to be honest though they're trying to make themselves a first priority, like if you kick up a fuss and say you're going to starve it may hurry them up. Very rarely works though.

Putting which ever bank on a guilt trip

Constantinople

Is anybody else still having issues with online debit card payments? Online banking working fine for me but can't make a payment to Capital One.

anotheruser

opinions4u wrote: »

Bank systems can and will go down. I'd be surprised if, over the last few years, any bank has avoided a situation like RBS / Nat West enjoyed last night.

In the 15+ years I have been with HSBC, they have never had anything go wrong.

However, decided to close my NatWest account and move to Lloyds. I am turning down free interest every month by not doing so.

NATWEST: I have been with you for less than 3 months. So far not impressed, already had a bill of 60p for something that was completely un-needed (which was refunded).
Will you pay everyone £100 as a good will gesture? It's not like you can't afford it, plus it will ensure this won't happen again because yo won't want to hurt your profits.

Suplex_Backbreaker

pineapple wrote: »

The bank of mattress is looking increasingly tempting.
Seriously if you can manage it, keep a sizable cash float.

Very good advice.

There's no such thing as having 'money in the bank' - what you have when you give your money to the bank is bank credit and should there be problems with the bank (either technical as in this latest example with RBS/NW or financial solvency as in Northern Rock/Icelandic banks 2008) you may find yourself unable to access the credit or swap it for cash at an ATM or branch.

Also it was very handy for me when I lost my wallet and cards recently.

Obviously there are risks associated with keeping a stash of emergency cash at home but by exercising reasonable caution, common sense and personal responsibility they can be mitigated. Don't forget that there are also counterparty risks with swapping your cash for bank credit as we have yet again seen .. and it's not like you get a decent rate of interest to compensate you these days.

muppetbaby

I made a payment into my RBS account from HBOS over the weekend via the faster payment system to cover outgoing debits yesterday and today. The money still isn't showing as credited to my RBS account yet. I was assured that this would be fixed, that my debits would be paid and that I wouldn't be charged, but I'm still worried as it's now Tuesday evening and the credit still isn't showing in my account and it's showing as overdrawn.

Suplex_Backbreaker

pineapple wrote: »

Or even a larger amount of cash and preferably not in a drawer.
And a basic food stock - I'm amazed that some people even said they had to go hungry.

Many people these days seem to think that they live in a bubble where they are never going to encounter an emergency situation involving a breakdown in something fundamental like the availability of cash, or food supply ... despite the fact that such stuff happens on quite a regular basis.

It's not exactly tricky or expensive to keep a few tins and packets of food in the cupboards for emergencies and an amount of cash enough to cover say, a week's expenses. However the mere suggestion is often ridiculed by the complacent types.

innovate

anotheruser wrote: »

Will you pay everyone £100 as a good will gesture? It's not like you can't afford it, plus it will ensure this won't happen again because yo won't want to hurt your profits.

This is a very unreasonable question to ask. Nobody should get compensation unless they experienced a loss.

Any compensation paid will hurt the owners of RBS. Which includes yourself, assuming you are a UK citizen, even if you didn't pay any tax.