Natwest Debt Help

JessS86

Hi All,

Well I am having a nightmare with Natwest I have a Business Bank Account and Personal Bank Account with them.
Recently my business has struggled and debts both business and personal have been creaping up on me. I made the hard choice to close the business and save myself any further hardship. All my other debtors have been very fair and agreed to the payment offers I have made... however Natwest would not close my accounts down as I had charges which I couldnt afford to pay... 2 months later I have over £800 in charges and they won't accept £20 a week off me. I have asked about freezing the account and charges and I was advised there are 2 stages which take over 30 days in order for this to happen of which another 120 in charges would have been applied.... I cant understand why they are not helping me am I missing something here???
Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks

National_Debtline

Hi Jess and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear about your difficulties.


Without knowing the full ins and outs, you may well have a case for suggesting that you should be treated more reasonably. Are you still putting any monies through either the personal or business accounts? If so, I would stop immediately and instead pay them into a "safe" account at an unrelated bank, so it becomes quite clear to Natwest that their accounts are no longer active and that any "live" charges ought to stop.


You may need to consider a formal complaint to the bank if you feel you are being treated unfairly. It may be useful to refer to the Financial Conduct Authority's guidance on the treatment of struggling customers by lenders:


https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/7/3.html


CONC 7.3.5 in the above link may be particularly relevant, as it suggest that the lender should consider freezing interest and further charges where it can see that the debt might otherwise get bigger and bigger.


Dennis
@natdebtline