Nationwide 'paid item fee' and overdraft scam

SinDinero

Hi.

Has anyone else been ripped off by The Nationwide for 'paid item fees' at £15 a shot? In addition to 'unauthorised overdraft' fees at £20 a time.

I have spent a lot of the last 3 years abroad in Europe so have often used my Nationwide Flex account to draw money out (as it used to be good up until about a year or so ago when they started charging). Anyway, I finally came back to the UK in the summer.
This year I have stayed in the UK and recently received a bank statement from the Nationwide for Novermber which has charges of £75 for (5) paid item fees and then £100 for (5) unauthorised overdraft charges - putting my account over £150 in the red.
The thing is, I haven't even used this account since June and it's been £18 in credit since then.
I normally return abroad every October, so I can only think that the Nationwide are up to their dirty tricks thinking that I'm abroad without the usual banking access to my statements etc. so have tried to pull a fast one, as the charges make absolutely no sense.
Since seeing this statement (Nov 2013) I have checked previous statements from the past couple of years and seen that I have unknowingly been hit with these kinds of charges before and VERY suspiciously - the dates of these charges seem to have been taken out the day BEFORE (they say) I had money going into my account. Again this seems like fowl play as I have always checked my balance before drawing any funds abroad to make sure any transactions have gone through and have often waited until several days later.

Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else? Just wondering where I stand, obviously I'm going to complain about ALL the charges.

Either way it just seems like an outright dirty disgraceful con.

Gromitt

SinDinero wrote: »

Has anyone else been ripped off by The Nationwide for 'paid item fees' at £15 a shot? In addition to 'unauthorised overdraft' fees at £20 a time.

Can't say I have. I certainly remember getting 'paid item fees' and 'unauthorised overdraft' fees and ending up with about £50 or so of charges, but it was totally my fault. I told them this and asked kindly if they would be willing to refund the charges as a gesture of goodwill considering my otherwise excellent account record and they obliged.

SinDinero

Gromitt wrote: »

Can't say I have. I certainly remember getting 'paid item fees' and 'unauthorised overdraft' fees and ending up with about £50 or so of charges, but it was totally my fault. I told them this and asked kindly if they would be willing to refund the charges as a gesture of goodwill considering my otherwise excellent account record and they obliged.

Did you go into your local branch or do this via phone?

In my case they are all debatable charges. But most shockingly the recent statement which seems like a blatant robbery attempt.

JuicyJesus

I normally return abroad every October, so I can only think that the Nationwide are up to their dirty tricks thinking that I'm abroad without the usual banking access to my statements etc. so have tried to pull a fast one, as the charges make absolutely no sense.

Yes, Nationwide deliberately waited until you were away to enforce their standard charging policy as communicated on their website and in their terms and conditions which is enforced all the time at the same rates anyway. You have rumbled their dastardly scheme.

They will have notified you that they were going to take the charges at least a week or two before they actually did, probably longer, as part of your monthly statement, which would also have shown you being overdrawn/overlimit, which is what will have incurred the charges.

No scam, you just went overdrawn.

YorkshireBoy

There's a lot of emotion (and, for me anyway, not enough detail) in your OP.


What were the paid items they charged you for?...DDs, SOs, or cash withdrawals?


And did you have cleared funds in the account at the end of the business day before the payment requests were made?

SinDinero

JuicyJesus wrote: »

No scam, you just went overdrawn.

Can't you read? or is it just comprehension you're incapable of?

SinDinero

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

There's a lot of emotion (and, for me anyway, not enough detail) in your OP.


What were the paid items they charged you for?...DDs, SOs, or cash withdrawals?


And did you have cleared funds in the account at the end of the business day before the payment requests were made?

:eek:

Like I said, my account was in credit in June 2013, and I didn't use the account in July 2013, August 2013, September 2013, October 2013 or November 2013.

Then my November statement has (5) paid item fees and subsequently (5) unauthorised overdraft fees. Which seems doubly sneaky as traditionally I've left the UK in October in each of the last 3 years, so would normally be abroad and more "oblivious" to charges from November onwards.

Furthermore, I've heard the Nationwide made some kind of major screw up with mortgage payments/interest rates that's left them well out of pocket so they are recovering these costs by trying to fleece other customers.

BMN

SinDinero wrote: »

:eek:

Like I said, my account was in credit in June 2013, and I didn't use the account in July 2013, August 2013, September 2013, October 2013 or November 2013.

Then my November statement has (5) paid item fees and subsequently (5) unauthorised overdraft fees. Which seems doubly sneaky as traditionally I've left the UK in October in each of the last 3 years, so would normally be abroad and more "oblivious" to charges from November onwards.

Furthermore, I've heard the Nationwide made some kind of major screw up with mortgage payments/interest rates that's left them well out of pocket so they are recovering these costs by trying to fleece other customers.

Well you're account was in use because there was something that took you overdrawn (whether it be a direct debit or standing order - which I suspect it might have been given the timeframe and the number of paid item fees)

SinDinero

BMN wrote: »

Well you're account was in use because there was something that took you overdrawn (whether it be a direct debit or standing order - which I suspect it might have been given the timeframe and the number of paid item fees)

Nope. I don't have any standing orders or direct debits on this account. I've purely used this account for cash withdrawals.

Next.............

YorkshireBoy

SinDinero wrote: »

Next.............

Call Nationwide and ask them?

jonesMUFCforever

Have you asked Nationwide?

Do you have the actual statements in front of you for the time period June - November 2013?