The crazy world of Natwest

Frontera2

I thought I would share my recent experiences with Natwest to hopefully avoid anyone else going through the same.

So last Saturday morning, I log on to internet banking to schedule a payment for Monday to pay my mortgage (there are many reasons why I dont pay it by Direct Debit) the payment screen confirms the date of the 20th so all looks good.

I click on the submit button and receive a message saying that my faster payment has been made and the recipient will receive the money in 2 hours. Hang on I think, I dont want the recipient to receive the money until Monday so I ring Natwest to check.

The blunt and disinterested sounding advisor tells me that "you cant schedule payments on a weekend for Monday" I explained that the webpage clearly had mondays date on it for the payment and that if this isnt the case then the website needs to be clearer. Advisor then assures me that the receiving bank won't process the payment until Monday anyway so Ive nothin to worry about. I repeatedly tell him I dont believe this is correct but it was like talking to a brick wall.

So, I ring the mortgage provider (HSBC) who, lo and behold, confirm that yes they have received the payment and that they have treated it as an overpayment for last month rather than treating it as the payment that was due on Monday. After much persuading on my part, they agree to reverse the payment they had received so I can make it again on Monday morning.

If I had taken Natwest at their word, I would have effectively not paid my mortgage for the month and no doubt collections activity would have begun!

I then ring NatWest again to complain about their website and advisor both giving wrong / misleading information. After spending half an hour on the 'phone takings all the details, the advisor assures me that everything will be passed to the complaints team and that they will ring me within 48 hours.

On Tuesday I receive a call from an unknown number which I cant answer as I'm in a meeting. A voicemail is left and its from Natwest asking me to call them back to discuss my complaint.

I duly ring back and after 30 minutes waiting to be answered, the advisor asks how she can help me. I explain that I'm calling back as requested and I'd like to speak to person who left me the message.

Advisor tells me that it's not possible and would I mind giving details of my complaint to her. Hang on, says me, I gave all ths information on Saturday and the advisor who rang me and left a message must surely have those details? Advisor tells me that there are no notes on the system from my call on Saturday or from the person who tried calling me!

I then insist again on talking to the person who left me a voicemail. After a few moments I'm told that she works in a different office and has gone home. No problem says I, can you leave a message for her to call me?

No, this isnt possible and, apparently, they work on a paper system for complaints so after not being able to get hold of me immediately the original advisor would have thrown it away!

You can imagine how frustrating I was getting and really didnt want to go through everything again. I then have a lightbulb moment and ask the advisor to listen to the call from Saturday so she can understand what Im complaining about. The response? "I can see you've called on Saturday but the recording isnt available" So I now find myself complaining about the complaints handling process!

I therefore have no choice but to go through everything again.. At the end of it, instead of resolving the complaint, Im told that this will be passed on to another team to look at and it may take 10 days for someone to get in touch.

I ask what would have happened if I hadn't returned the original voicemail and was told that they wouldnt have tried calling again and would have just closed the original complaint!

In the year 2017, I cannot believe that an organisation the size of Natwest would have such poor processes!

Rant over, thanks for reading.

Shakin_Steve

Apart from the palaver with the complaints system, this weekend payment thing does need sorting out. If, on a weekend, I try to schedule a payment for Monday, the system at Barclays will not let me do that. As far as the system is concerned, it is Monday already as that is the next banking day.
So if I go ahead with a FP say, on a Saturday, the money will immediately leave my account and will immediately be credited to Tesco. On looking at the statement later that week, Barclays will show me making a payment on the Monday and Tesco receiving it on the Saturday, two days earlier than I sent it.

The answer is, of course, to be aware of these things and, in your case, not to believe the disinterested and probably ignorant advisor.

Frontera2

My main concern is that Natwest's systems let me put Monday's date as the date for the payment with no warning that it would in fact be paid immediately

Jo_Blogs

Perhaps the better option, if DD is something you don't want to do, is to set up a standing order for a specific date .

"In the year 2017, I cannot believe that an organisation the size of Natwest would have such poor processes" - Natwest are not alone .

agrinnall

Jo_Blogs wrote: »

Perhaps the better option, if DD is something you don't want to do, is to set up a standing order for a specific date .

I'm not entirely convinced that it would be possible to set up a SO to do precisely what's required without needing to make alterations to it in at least some months, depending on what day of the week the payment needs to be at the receiving bank.

What I don't really understand is what objection the OP has to using DD to make the payment, which would have avoided any problems in the first place.

stclair

Saturday is Monday in the RBS world lol

mgdavid

stclair wrote: »

Saturday is Monday in the RBS world lol

Yes and that will be all explained somewhere in the Ts & Cs that the account owner agreed to when opening the account.

System

mgdavid wrote: »

Yes and that will be all explained somewhere in the Ts & Cs that the account owner agreed to when opening the account.

That the Internet banking service would provide an inaccurate date?

EarthBoy

NatWest/RBS have processed Monday's payments, in and out, on the Saturday for years. I believe Barclays does the same. NatWest have been looking into changing this system for at least two years, but as yet there doesn't seem to be any progress on it.

https://supportcentre.natwest.com/Linked/ContextualHelp/913250872/It-is-the-weekend-why-do-I-have-less-money-than-I-should-have.htm

Other banks, Nationwide, TSB, Lloyds, Halifax, HSBC, First Direct, don't pay Monday's payments until Monday.

Frontera2

Yes it does say in the terms and conditions that standing orders and direct debits due on a Monday, will be taken from the account holders funds on the Saturday.

What it doesn't say is that if you schedule a faster payment with a payment date of Monday, they will take the money and transmit the funds on the Saturday.

There's also the fundamental difference whereby although DDs and SOs are taken from the balance on a Saturday, the funds ARENT released to the payee until the Monday, whereas in this case the funds were sent immediately.

Frontera2

Also, is it unreasonable for me as a customer to see in prominent text Mondays date for when the payment will be made, and believe that to be accurate?