Reclaiming bank fees during times of hardship?

milobrulee

I read that it might be possible to reclaim bank fees if they've caused a snowball effect during a time of hardship, how likely am I to be able to reclaim fees, do you think?

I have £1800 OD with Natwest that stopped being interest free just a few months ago. I forgot to pay into the account enough to cover interest, and as I only get online statements I didn't realise that I'd slipped into unarranged overdraft. It cost me £90 in fees, the maximum they charge in one month.

I foolishly paid an amount to cover interest that I got sent in a letter, but didn't see the supplement to the statement that showed the £90 fee, so again I slipped into unarranged for another month.

I've finally got a hold on it but I'm due to have a further £90 come out end of this month so I think in total it's about £225 in unarranged overdraft fees I had a financial problem around this time where a company ceased a long-standing contract with them for 1 month while they restructured their company so I was really in financial hardship during this time.

I've spoken to someone at Natwest over their live chat when I was trying to estimate my next charges and she sent me a link to their hardship page which explained I may be able to get assistance with those fees during times of hardship. I sent them a list of my outgoings for the two months I was charged showing that I had £14 left to feed myself and get to work all month after all my bills and that it meant I had to default on another payment.

I received a letter today saying they'll get back to me within 4 weeks... is this bad? It seems like a really long time to reply to a hardship request and by then I could be in more hardship.

Any advice recommended! I have noted down the amount needed on a spreadsheet now as I'm trying to get more organised, so it won't happen again, but that £200 odd I lost in fees would seriously help my situation.

sourcrates

Hi,

Banks will usually refund some fees at least once a year, if you ask.

You have done the right thing, it's a case of wait and see really now.

-taff

As long as your outgoings show no extravagant bills, like sky tv for example, and you can show you're in a cycle of payments going up due to fees etc, or that you haven't done this before, they may refund fees, or they may stop any further fees. You'll have to wait and see.

bamgbost

i did same earlier this year.
to barclays and nationwide.

nationwide refunded me £90 of charges. barclays said no. as i jad gambling transactions, which is deemed to not be essential.

so it comes down to what your accs show and the banks discretion.

milobrulee

That might be a problem then, as I don't use the account as a current account. I opened a new current account away from this one so I could to try to pay it down. So it's just been left with a few transactions a month going in and out. I wonder f possibly they might ask me to repay the whole thing

milobrulee

Pleased to report that I received £180 requested from Natwest. I will wait to see if they have "frozen" any unarranged OD fees until the end of 2016 as i requested but I think I may have been in the black anyway.

Bumblebear

Well done Just a message of hope for anyone else in the same predicament - I've previously done this with HSBC years ago, they'd just launched their whizzy new mobile banking app so you could "always check your balance" - which actually didn't update for a week sometimes, and didn't show the actual available balance to spend. I was moving out of the house I shared with an ex and incurred 6 unauthorised OD fees in one day. It was silly things, a £1 sandwich, having to top up £5 of fuel to get the last of my things out of the house, another £1 on toilet paper*, and I was paid the next day or day after. I asked in the bank first and explained the situation, they were helpful in telling me what to do next and what my odds were given the circumstances. Going and asking them in person won't do any harm to anyone, and in my case I was £150 better off for doing so.


* Yes, in the past I would normally be more organised and make a packed lunch, make sure there's paper to hand in box #1, top up the car and whatever else it was (a £5 kettle I think) as these things add up - but it was a jolly awkward move!