Bank fees on Nationwide account

geminigirlie

Me and my husband opened a Nationwide flex account mainly in order to save some money. Last year we had to use all the money in there due to some financial problems. My husband also used his debit card and went £10 overdrawn.

By the time I realised the account was overdrawn £60 charges had been added for 1 month. I paid the £60 plus the overdrawn amount but didn't think about the fact that we were in to the second month of being overdrawn so another £60 was going to be added.

Anyway my husband was then taken seriously ill (at one time the hospital told me he would not survive the night) and checking online banking was, obviously, the last thing on my mind.

We don't get paper statements (I don't remember ever agreeing to that) so when we suddenly got a letter from Nationwide saying we were £240 overdrawn I was shocked to say the least.

That was 4 months charges. I wrote back explaining the situation with my husband and said as he is unable to work full time we had no way of paying that sum back. I also asked why they had waited 4 months before notifying me. They replied saying as we were not receiving paper statements it was up to us to check the balance.

I wrote again, explaining again the situation but they only replied with the same answer. They have since though written another 2 letters saying we are overdrawn and they telephone almost every day (often 3 or more times in a day).

Shame they didn't think to write or phone before.

So now another month has passed and the amount will have gone up another £60. We can't afford the initial amount so no way can we afford to keep having £60 added on.

Where do we stand on this? Is £60 a month not an excessive amount especially when we started off only £10 overdrawn?

JuicyJesus

They don't have to refund the fees; personally I feel that in the circumstances they should, and I would if I were in their position (having worked for a bank in the past). That is Nationwide's decision however and they're under no requirement to do so.

Have you written a formal complaint and did any letters back from Nationwide tell you to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service? If so, do that because that is your next port of call. If you have not, write a complaint letter to Nationwide explaining that you are in hardship, that the charges are worsening it and that you need assistance with this because it will only get worse.

It's worth pointing out that Nationwide's complaints handling appears to be spitting out some very bizarre decisions recently as evidenced by them arguing the toss with FOS about things where they're plainly in the wrong for very odd reasons. This appears to be one of those cases because while you do indeed have a responsibility to look at online statements, the actual amount you went overdrawn by is minuscule and your prospects of paying it back are slim.

Kim_13

The fees certainly seem excessive and would suggest that you are in an unarranged overdraft? Unarranged overdraft fees are excessive and this is why an arranged overdraft should be set up. If I recall correctly, Nationwide cap overdraft fees to £60 a month so may argue that you would owe a lot more than that if not for this measure.

Nationwide do offer a first time fee refund, so they should reduce it by at least £60. If you had never been overdrawn before then the £60 refund you'd have been entitled to would have stopped the situation (together with your payment into the account clearing the £10 that was actually borrowed.) Could be worth pointing this out and asking nicely if they will apply it retrospectively.

Have you tried giving them any evidence of your husband's health issues?

Katiehound

Clearly the problem is escalating so wonder if you can get some advice quickly from somewhere like CAB. There are also organisations which deal with debts alone (I don't mean a money making firm) but can't for the life of me recall the name......

There is a CAB board on this forum so maybe your first port of call as one of the topics they can deal with is debts- just seen it.

agrinnall

Katiehound wrote: »

Clearly the problem is escalating so wonder if you can get some advice quickly from somewhere like CAB. There are also organisations which deal with debts alone (I don't mean a money making firm) but can't for the life of me recall the name......

There is a CAB board on this forum so maybe your first port of call as one of the topics they can deal with is debts- just seen it.

The CAB board is closed and does not accept new posts, so it's only of any use now for reference.

There will be plenty about debt organisations on the Debt Free Wannabe board such as StepChange, although it's not an area I know much about myself.