Ex RBS Group employees!!

MrsMoff

Come home today to a letter from a debt agency going after me for £300 I owe Nat west! No clue what it's about so after nearly an hour on the phone find out because I used to work for RBS they forced me to have a bank account with Nat West or RBS or they wouldn't pay my wages. Gave a me a gold account as "staff perk" left the group 2008 and immediately stopped using the account. Account sits dormant forgotten about April 2014 when they suddenly decide to start charging me every month for the gold account without telling me!!!!! And to top it all off they have defaulted me so I have a black mark on my beautifully clean credit rating. Beyond angry how dare they!! Apparently they wrote to me once in Feb 2014 to ask if I wanted to "opt out" of the account but I had moved in Nov 2013 so didn't receive a letter. They only found me now after employing a people tracing company. I have now got to raise issue with their complaints department so they can look into it. How can they let the account sit dormant for 5 years and start charging without permission? I have spoken to one ex colleague who also had a dormant account and they closed hers down at the same time and kept the funds!? How many more ex employees were forced to have accounts and then have been stung in this way??? If you used to work for them and you have an old account, check it you might be in debt!!

gunsandbanjos

I hate to add fuel to your rage but if you didn't update your address with them then it's not really their fault the letter didn't get to you.

You had a staff account with various benefits for no charge, should you leave the employment it's reasonable to assume that this account will no longer be subsidised as part of your perks.

You should have closed the account when you left if you didn't want it anymore.

MrsMoff

I appreciate I should have closed the account or changed my address but to start charging a dormant account without any agreement for something I never asked for and was forced to take is un acceptable. if they had closed the account with no warning I wouldn't have had an issue. That's usual procedure for dormant accounts

agrinnall

MrsMoff wrote: »

How many more ex employees were forced to have accounts and then have been stung in this way???

Very few, because most of us have the sense to close our ex-staff accounts once we no longer used them.

Tragen

A human at some point would have had to have looked at this "debt" and would have seen the account is dormant and probably an ex-staff account. I cant think how that human could ethically sign off on this becoming a debt.

I'm sure legally they could though.

The circumstances surrounding it would certainly make a calmly written letter stating your position worth while. I wouldn't let emotions play a role with your wording!

*~Zephyr~*

MrsMoff wrote: »

How many more ex employees were forced to have accounts and then have been stung in this way???

Not ALL RBS employees had Natwest accounts. My OH worked for them for 8 years and never opened a Natwest account. They asked him too, several times, but because I knew that they monitored staff banking and spending activity we were never comfortable with holding an account with them.

They can't force you to have an account with them. And they can't withhold payment of salary purely because of who you bank with.

I know this doesn't help you now OP, but for future reference it might be useful.

I do sympathise, but you really do only have yourself to blame. Why leave an account dormant rather than shutting it down?

csgohan4

What did the terms and condition say?

If you didn't read them, no sympathy. You signed on the line, your responsible.

agrinnall

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

Not ALL RBS employees had Natwest accounts. My OH worked for them for 8 years and never opened a Natwest account. They asked him too, several times, but because I knew that they monitored staff banking and spending activity we were never comfortable with holding an account with them.

They can't force you to have an account with them. And they can't withhold payment of salary purely because of who you bank with.

Paranoid nonsense, if any employee didn't want their spending monitored simply move the money to an account elsewhere after payday, which is precisely what I did, although I very much doubt if any time is spent examining staff accounts unless the member of staff is already suspect.

And yes, they could require you to open a staff account because they did, if I had been your OH's boss I'd have sacked him, or at least attempted to given the extreme difficulty of sacking anyone at RBSG. The group abandoned the requirement to have an account with them last year I believe.

diamonds

Forcing staff to use RBS lol. Sounds like LBG, who wanted my credit file before offering me a job! !!!! off!

agrinnall

diamonds wrote: »

Forcing staff to use RBS lol. Sounds like LBG, who wanted my credit file before offering me a job! !!!! off!

a) as explained already they no longer require staff to have an account with them, and b) I doubt if there is any bank that would not check the credit records of a potential employee.

Ballard

csgohan4 wrote: »

What did the terms and condition say?

If you didn't read them, no sympathy. You signed on the line, your responsible.

This is a regular response on this forum and it does make sense so I've no argument with it. I have to say that I scan the T&Cs but don't read every word.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has ever read the entire terms of an Apple or Microsoft agreement. The comedian Dave Gorman read through the 'Boris Bike' agreement (I think that it was about 18 pages on the screen) and pointed out to them that they had the number of days in a year wrong so presumably hardly anyone had bothered to read it. Amusingly, everyone who had got tickets for that show had agreed to the T&Cs which included a clause that they had to sleep with Dave Gorman if he so desired.