Unfair Charges with Natwest, closed account and down 300 notes

closing_2

Hi there,

Posted on behalf of the misses whos is having a right to do with Natwest at the moment

"After having opened a 2nd account with my bank under the managers advice to be used as a bills account it became overdrawn by means off excessive charges placed upon the account.

I was advised to stop using this account n went back to paying all DD + SO on my original account.

The bank - dispite my letters and telephone calls continued to use this account for processing payments which meant futher charges to my account being made which then meant its got passed to the to the finance dept of the bank.

My bank manager advised me to re claim back the charges so as to bring the balance of the debt off to which i proceeded to do so with letters to the bank. These letters where never responded to by the bank and now the bank has closed both of my bank accounts refusing to provide me with any further banking facilities.

On doing this they closed my current acount with approx £300 in credit in it and transfered those monies into the account that was over drawn due to charges saying that they were taking those creditable funds to offset against the monies i am owing them. they will not accept that the overdraft is due to excessive charges and that i must repay this debt - they still have not responded to my letters asking to have the charges refunded and i am left in a position where i have no banking facilities. please could anyone advise me on where to turn next on this issuse - any advise will be helpfull many thanks

natweststaffmember

Firstly where did you send the letters? Did you either a) photocopy statements and highlight the charges you wanted refunding or b) send a schedule of charges to the bank with the details? The team that deal with charges are Customer Relations Unit. THe second issue is on the other account, did you receive any correspondence from natwest with regards to the overdrawn account? Please say you did not ignore those letters. The bank can offset accounts if you are in credit on one of them. They should have warned you that they were closing the account as per the Banking COde to give you the time to find alternative banking arrangements.

closing_2

Hi natweststaffmember,

thanks for the reply and sorry for not posting sooner, have had a complete mare with trying to get a cash only account setup now for obvious reasons.

"I firstly wrote to the bank requesting a schedule of charges - they replied asking me to pay £5 to obtain this info so i sent a cheque along with the letter.

The bank never sent me the schedule and after sending another letter I telephoned them to ask why where the response was but had difficulty in getting through to the correct dept and was passed from buck to buck

I returned the query to my local bank manager who said that he had a few clients currently doing the same and they had started to hear back. So the bank manager advised to wait for a respone to the letters that were sent. My main contact was the local bank manager or the finance department of the bank.

This went on for a couple of weeks, me chasing the bank manager, him promising to call back, never calling back, me going to see him, him promising to find out more and never getting back to me.

Then last week (at the time of posting) I had a letter out of the blue saying that they were closing the OD account. So again I spoke to my bank manager again on receipt of that letter but he assured me that this was not affecting the account in credit

Both accounts were then duely closed and the credit from the non OD account taken to pay off the OD in the other account that the manager was sorting. So now I have no banking facilities, the bank have washed their hands of it all and now its possibly being referred to a collection agency unless I agree to pay the balance off.

All letters were sent to the Debt Department as advised by my manager and ill get that address in the morning when my other pc is working. I used the letters from here in the other thread about claiming charges.

natweststaffmember

They are using the right of set off, which means that any credit balances from other accounts would be used to pay into an overdrawn account and that account would be closed. You need to get the statements and you need to state to credit management services that you are in the process of claiming your charges back which should clear all the debt on the account. Remember if they fail to supply your data within 40 days then it is against the Data Protection Act 1998. You need statements though.

ihatemoney_2

Thanks for the advise - I will take it all on board and pursue it as advised

ihatemoney_2

Hello

I have gotten to the stage of the charges reclaim in which i sent them a break down of all the charges and asked for a refund. I recived a letter back saying that they are unable to process the claim untill a court case judgement with the office of fair trading is resolved and that the FSA has susspended all cases untill the desision on this. please advise what my next move is to be please - do i wait or continue??

thanks in advance

natweststaffmember

The advice would be to continue to court if you are confident of the process and that waiting for the OFT court case would not result in a loss of charges being claimed back.

ihatemoney_2

Hello and thanks. Just looking for clarification - it states in the letter that they will not continue to procces my claim but hold it untill the verdit of this OFT case. They claim that once a desisin has been reached they will contact me to continue - is that usual BS? or should I write back with the 3rd letter saying that I will progress to court?

Fedz

Maybe this will help answer some of your questions:

Source: Halifax (HBOS).

Important information about unarranged overdraft bank Charges.



On 27 July, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and 7 UK banks and a building society started a court case to decide on the legality of unauthorised overdraft charges.



The British Bankers' Association has made a statement on behalf of the banks involved. You can read this statement at www.bba.org.uk


This case is being called a "test case" because the decision will clarify the law in this area and is likely to apply to all current and new claims against current account providers about unauthorised overdraft charges.
We will continue to post updates on our website to keep customers informed of progress on the test case as this could run for at least a year.

What will happen to customer complaints about unauthorised overdraft charges?

Most banks and building societies will not be dealing with or resolving customer complaints on unauthorised overdraft charges while the test case is running.
If you do complain about your unauthorised overdraft charges, we will write to tell you that we have received your complaint and that we will record it on your file. When a final decision is reached in the test case, we will contact you as soon as possible to tell you how we will resolve your complaint. We will apply the decision in the court case to all complaints we receive.

Why are the banks allowed to stop dealing with unauthorised overdraft charge complaints during the test case?

We applied to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for a suspension of the normal timetable for dealing with unauthorised overdraft charge complaints. The FSA decided that, in the circumstances it was appropriate to grant us a suspension of our obligations under the FSA's complaint handling rules while we sought legal certainty on this issue. The suspension is subject to a series of conditions designed to protect customers' rights.
The FSA's suspension direction can be found on the FSA's website: www.fsa.gov.uk

Can I make a court claim for a refund during the test case?

Yes, but we will apply to the court to put your case on hold while the test case is running. This is because the issues being raised in customer complaints on unauthorised overdraft charges are being considered in the test case.

Can I complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service about my bank charges?

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has decided not to review complaints while the test case is running. If you do complain to FOS, they will respond to you confirming their position directly.

What if I have already been made an offer?

We will stand by any offer to settle a complaint or court claim that we have already made to our customers. If you have received an offer to settle from us within the last two months, we will be writing to you again shortly.
If you do choose to refuse an offer, your complaint or claim we will be held and recorded by us until there is a final decision in the "test case". We will then contact you again as soon as possible to finally resolve your complaint.

I have already accepted an offer from you. Will my claim be revisited?

If you have accepted a 'full and final settlement', we believe it unlikely you would be awarded a further sum even if the test case indicates a potentially larger amount. However, this does not preclude you from asking for repayment of any new charges incurred if the courts finds they are unlawful.

How long will the "test case" take?

At this time it is too soon to give any exact timescales for a conclusion to the "test case" but it could go for more than a year. We have agreed with the OFT and the FSA to conduct the test case in an efficient, prompt and orderly way.

Where can I find out more?

You can find more information from the following websites:
The Financial Service Authority: www.fsa.gov.uk
The Office of Fair Trading: www.oft.gov.uk
The Financial Ombudsman Service: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
You can also obtain a copy of the consumer fact sheet from the Financial Ombudsman Service website.

ihatemoney_2

Thats fab many thanks