Nationwide Charges

bigrednose

Hello,
I'm a newbie. I have tried to look through the other posts to save me asking a question that has already been answered but no joy so here I go...over the past two years I have done quite well to get rid of my overdraft of £1,000 to nothing. I have no overdrafts.


I have worked very hard to manage my money better (no easy feat). For many years money has just been haemorrhaging from every financial orifice which had to stop! I was promoted at work and therefore earning slightly more money. I decided that each month I would transfer £500.00 to another basic account that I have with another bank and pay my monthly bills from there.


I had calculated the figure to include a little buffer each month. This worked for at least the fist two months but Nationwide started charging me due to insufficient funds! There were two DD where I forgot to change the pay out dates from the first of the month to the middle. This was a complete oversight on my part.


I received a letter from my mobile phone company informing me that my payment was late. This surprised me. I checked my account to see that Nationwide had charged me £60.00. I called them and tried to explain that it was a mistake and the fact that they had charged me had in fact taken money that was meant for my bills. They refused to refund the charges saying that they had refunded charges earlier in the year. I believe that was due to my wages going in late (an error on behalf of my employers).


Anyway, I decided to remove another DD for £60.00 and changed the pay out dates for those that I omitted to do earlier. I could only get hold of one of the creditors but the DD that was left was for £12.00 so I felt okay that the 'buffer' should cover that. Happy days! No, I am still being charged and the mobile phone payment is not being paid yet again!


Nationwide are still charging me! This is putting me into debt and affecting my credit rating. I do not use the account for anything else so there are no other transactions apart from them (Nationwide) taking money from me each month. What can I do? Can I complain to the Financial Ombudsman? All suggestions/advice greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Thrugelmir

Why have 2 bank accounts? Make your life simpler and don't get account charges by having just one.

FOS will offer you no support if the problems relate to your conduct of the account. The banks charges are totally transparent.

fiendishlyclever

Surely the Nationwide gave you advance notice of the charges? One thing banks have got better at in recent years is spelling out what you are being charged for. It used to annoy me that I got an extra sheet with my statement just telling me what next month's interest charge would be, even for a few pence... (fortunately I've not been overdrawn for several years now!)

colsten

The charges are being advised on a statement, but will not be taken until the next statement. So if you keep your account with a zero, or minimal, balance, the charges might send you into a further charge situation, e.g. an arranged or unarranged overdraft.

If you keep the amount of the advised charges, and then some, in your account, plus make sure that no single or regular payment sends you into any overdraft, you should get out of the rut you are in.

May be book an appointment in a Branch so they can work out and explain exactly how much you owe them, and exactly how much in total you need to pay back to get rid of the recurring charges.

bigrednose

Ok I guess I need to take some responsibility here! I guess I felt that they could've at least offered me one charge refunded to show some level of 'good practice.' In all fairness they are a bank so what more could I expect? I'll learn the lesson and move on.
Thank you for your advice: to the point and fair:)

colsten

bigrednose wrote: »

I guess I felt that they could've at least offered me one charge refunded to show some level of 'good practice.'

You did say you had actually got one refund - that is the best you can hope for from any company.

bigrednose wrote: »

They refused to refund the charges saying that they had refunded charges earlier in the year.

bigrednose wrote: »

In all fairness they are a bank

They are actually not a bank, they are a Building Society.

bigrednose

colsten wrote: »

You did say you had actually got one refund - that is the best you can hope for from any company.






They are actually not a bank, they are a Building Society.

Yep...I knew someone would pick up on my mistake!