reclaim nat west bank package charges

Janey24

I recently wrote to Nat West re my Advantage gold account charges that I was signed up to around 20 years ago. Their response was "You received a paper statement regularly and knew about the charges - so you cannot complain about having to pay them". Is it worth me writing to the Ombudsman and continuing with this complaint? I have never used any of the services of an advantage gold account and do not know why I was signed up for it.

colsten

Janey24 wrote: »

do not know why I was signed up for it.

Natwest will probably argue that 20 years of paying the charges means you had, roughly, about 20 years for asking why you signed up for them?

stclair

Is their a reason after the time scale your challenging them?

The bank send regular letters regarding your account type and to check the account is still right for you type of thing.

If you have exhausted the complaints process you can raise a concern with the FOS.

grumbler

MSE article: Packaged Bank Accounts

MrSlippers

I have a similar situation. I was 'upgraded' to an Advantage Gold Account in 2001 when I applied for a loan and was given the impression that switching to AG would guarantee approval of the loan itself. I have never used the 'perks' of the account (Breakdown cover - I do not own a car / Holiday Insurance - never used / Mobile phone cover - I have only ever owned a budget under £50 pay-as-you-go phone).
I appreciate that not using the features is not a basis for a claim - but I genuinely feel that this was mis-sold as there would have been absolutely no reason to change from a fee-free account to a monthly packaged account when the features were of no advantage to me whatsoever.
Anyway - my claim for mis-selling has been rejected by Natwest who have stated that review letters were sent out (1 in 2009 / 1 in 2010) which apparently explained fees of the account and so their argument is - why wouldn't I have complained about this before?
Firstly, I have no recollection of having seen these letters (my postal service is horrendous) but also - my complaint is about the initial mis-selling itself. How can Natwest say that I should have complained earlier and have missed the time scale when the mis-selling of these accounts has only been in the public news for a relatively short time.
Bottom line is that I have taken my case to the FSO and I am awaiting their response which I will post here when I receive it. I have read a number of cases on MSE which are similar to mine but many show no conclusion so I will make sure to publicise my experience here.

grumbler

Well, if the loan was the only reason for upgrading and you knew this, what stopped you from downgrading back after getting the loan instead of waiting for 15 years?

nidO

Given what you've said, i'm not clear where the argument for mis-selling is.
When you took out the loan I would wager a fair amount that you were *not* told that upgrading your account would guarantee approval of the loan, but rather that upgrading would make your loan cheaper.
In 2001 this was true as one of the many benefits of the account was providing reduced loan interest rates.

Therefore given that your account was upgraded for a legitimate reason that undoubtedly saved you a load of money on the loan (whether this was more or less than the account fee only you'd know) and that you've admitted you knew the account was being upgraded and that you'd be paying for it and therefore could have downgraded it at any subsequent time, where's the complaint?

grumbler

nidO wrote: »

Therefore given that your account was upgraded for a legitimate reason that undoubtedly saved you a load of money on the loan (whether this was more or less than the account fee only you'd know)...

The same can be said about PPI that resulted in lower interest rates but can be claimed now regardless.

MrSlippers

Or, courtesy of MSE:


"Customers are often told they have to sign up to a packaged account to get a loan, mortgage or other product. Or that their other application will be declined if they don't get a packaged account. This is blatant mis-selling."

MrSlippers

grumbler wrote: »

Well, if the loan was the only reason for upgrading and you knew this, what stopped you from downgrading back after getting the loan instead of waiting for 15 years?

Because I was given the impression that the packaged account was locked in for the period of the loan. But how, when they made me change from a fee-free account to a packaged account by telling me that is what I had to do to get the loan - is that NOT mis-selling? If that is not mis-selling - then what is?

bengal-stripe

MrSlippers wrote: »

.....was given the impression that switching to AG would guarantee approval of the loan itself.

MrSlippers wrote: »

.....when they made me change from a fee-free account to a packaged account by telling me that is what I had to do to get the loan - is that NOT mis-selling? If that is not mis-selling - then what is?

You did change your story from the first posting to the last one. Were you offered "guaranteed acceptance" if you did upgrade the account, or were you told your loan would be denied if you did not upgrade? As you did upgrade and got the loan you were after, there was no mis-selling in the first scenario. Whether you would have, or would not have gotten the loan in the second scenario, you did not dare to find out.

It is probably impossible today to establish what was said some 14 years ago. Changing your story does not improve your reliability as a witness.