Natwest - Student Account Charges

BigDave2012

Hi all,

I am looking to address some unfair charges on a student account with Natwest. Here is a brief overview of the situation:

I opened this student account, a Natwest Student Account, in approximately 2003/2004, and due to financial/personal reasons was given an enhanced overdraft of approximately £1250.

Due to personal circumstances, this account was no longer used after a relatively short period of time. The charges received on this account at one point pushed this overdraft thoroughly past £1600 (overdrawn) despite the account not being used. Their own fees and charges actually snowballed and created further charges, justifying further charges and so on.

Since that time, I have been contacted by NWB Collections Agency in an effort to recover the overdraft 'loan'. I have endeavoured to pay this sum off on many occasions, often via transferring whatever I was able to afford at the time (typically anything between £20-50, sometimes more) into the account to help to erase the debt.

Despite my best efforts, there still remains approximately half of the original outstanding debt (~£800) currently.

Having checked my recent statements, it has become apparent that I am being unfairly charged for account 'activity' where I am not actually the one utilising/drawing overdraft funds from the account.

Namely, I receive the interest on the balance, as any overdraft would incur(19%+), but I also receive £6 overdraft usage fees.

When I have contacted NWB Collections Agency, I have informed them that these charges are unfair, and that I do not use the account (and once fully paid off, I will close the account, so we will both be mutually unburdened by this). The Collections staff members have always been pleasant, however they said that they would look into making the account so that it did not receive interest and/or charges, and also suspend withdrawals from the account, but still able to pay monthly into it to repay what is owed. They also stated that since I was no longer a student (at least 6yrs since I wasn't) that to have a student account was incorrect.

These/any account modifications never transpired.

By my calculations, the £6 per month over an approximate 9yr period, with standard interest added on, more than covers what is owed, and this is not even considering the interest rates of 19% upwards from which I have been charged.

I am considering asking that these charges be looked into and reimbursed to the account, as I am currently paying in £50 per month and this sum is destroyed by interest and account charges, as it has been for many years - it is only my intention to completely pay off this outstanding debt, and their practices have made this extremely difficult to achieve over the past years.

Any tips or thoughts on this situation please?

Thanks in advance!

Aquamania

BigDave2012 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am looking to address some unfair charges on a student account with Natwest. Here is a brief overview of the situation:

I opened this student account, a Natwest Student Account, in approximately 2003/2004, and due to financial/personal reasons was given an enhanced overdraft of approximately £1250.

Due to personal circumstances, this account was no longer used after a relatively short period of time. The charges received on this account at one point pushed this overdraft thoroughly past £1600 (overdrawn) despite the account not being used. Their own fees and charges actually snowballed and created further charges, justifying further charges and so on.

Since that time, I have been contacted by NWB Collections Agency in an effort to recover the overdraft 'loan'. I have endeavoured to pay this sum off on many occasions, often via transferring whatever I was able to afford at the time (typically anything between £20-50, sometimes more) into the account to help to erase the debt.

Despite my best efforts, there still remains approximately half of the original outstanding debt (~£800) currently.

Having checked my recent statements, it has become apparent that I am being unfairly charged for account 'activity' where I am not actually the one utilising/drawing overdraft funds from the account.

Namely, I receive the interest on the balance, as any overdraft would incur(19%+), but I also receive £6 overdraft usage fees.

When I have contacted NWB Collections Agency, I have informed them that these charges are unfair, and that I do not use the account (and once fully paid off, I will close the account, so we will both be mutually unburdened by this). The Collections staff members have always been pleasant, however they said that they would look into making the account so that it did not receive interest and/or charges, and also suspend withdrawals from the account, but still able to pay monthly into it to repay what is owed. They also stated that since I was no longer a student (at least 6yrs since I wasn't) that to have a student account was incorrect.

These/any account modifications never transpired.

By my calculations, the £6 per month over an approximate 9yr period, with standard interest added on, more than covers what is owed, and this is not even considering the interest rates of 19% upwards from which I have been charged.

I am considering asking that these charges be looked into and reimbursed to the account, as I am currently paying in £50 per month and this sum is destroyed by interest and account charges, as it has been for many years - it is only my intention to completely pay off this outstanding debt, and their practices have made this extremely difficult to achieve over the past years.

Any tips or thoughts on this situation please?

Thanks in advance!

Have you read the MSE article on reclaiming unfair bank charges?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/oft-bank-charges

Note the warning at the top that, despite paying for some of the best legal advice in the land on this matter, no one has ever succeeded following the advice provided ... so it's essentially died a death.

[Deleted User]

BigDave2012 wrote: »

I am looking to address some unfair charges on a student account with Natwest.

There are no "unfair" bank charges; the Banks won their court case on that aspect of their business a few years back.

Banks are not obliged to refund anything I'm afraid and will only even consider refunding (some) charges if you currently meet their "hardship" criteria. Typically, they'll look at charges made in the last six months only.They certainly won't entertain any complaints about historical charges .

BigDave2012

Ahh, thanks for clarifying this. So it was wise to check here to avoid time-wasting and potentially looking silly.

I am in a positional to completely pay off the debt now, but wanted to check if there was any scope to have any previous charges offset against it, to lessen how much I needed to pay off the debt (or even for it to pay for itself).

Thanks folks

[Deleted User]

BigDave2012 wrote: »

I am in a positional to completely pay off the debt now,

This obviously means you aren't in "hardship".
Pay off the debt and close the account once and for all.

BigDave2012

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

This obviously means you aren't in "hardship".
Pay off the debt and close the account once and for all.

Not now, no (for 'hardship').

[Deleted User]

BigDave2012 wrote: »

Not now, no (for 'hardship').

Only current hardship will be considered (and it's the Bank's hardship criteria-which may not have matched with yours!)