Natwest charging me to switch?

marliepanda

I recently was approved for a First Direct account and went about switching using the switching service.

The final switch was today, and I logged on to make sure my account looked okay on Natwest (my previous bank) and noticed I was £17 overdrawn...

On my account it says:

LAST PER'D - £6 (three times)
TO CLOSE - £0.25

Making a total of £18.25 in closing charges.

I do have an overdraft but even then, my monthly overdraft fee is £6 and that was last taken on the 10th Feb, so even if it was a partial charge for this, it shouldnt be £18.

I called Natwest and the lad on the 24 hour team was baffled and hadnt personally seen these charges before, and the switching team are closed until tomorrow.

Can anyone shed any light on this before the morning? I'm a bit annoyed as even if the charges ARE legitimate, why wasn't I told at any point it was going to cost me £18.25 to swap the account?

Wednesday100

Something similar happened in 2006: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/150221

But on another forum someone explained that NatWest charges "go out one month behind so for example if it is closed at the end of August then £12 for July and £12 remains to go out for August(normally would go out at the end of September) so £12 to close is Augusts charge". That might help explain things but three £6s sounds wrong.

I think the "TO CLOSE" may be Interest To Close representing the interest incurred while you were overdrawn.

It reminds me of when I had a NatWest dormant account with a couple of pounds in. NatWest said they were closing the account because I was not using it, but just took the remaining couple of pounds out for themselves as some random fee.

marliepanda

Wednesday100 wrote: »

Something similar happened in 2006: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/150221

But on another forum someone explained that NatWest charges "go out one month behind so for example if it is closed at the end of August then £12 for July and £12 remains to go out for August(normally would go out at the end of September) so £12 to close is Augusts charge". That might help explain things but three £6s sounds wrong.

It reminds me of when I had a NatWest dormant account with a couple of pounds in. NatWest said they were closing the account because I was not using it, but just took the remaining couple of pounds out for themselves as some random fee.

Yeah I am sure I will owe 'something' but considering my fee for the past few months has been a flat £6, it should still only be a flat £6, when payment would normally be due March 10th.

The 0.25p isnt gonna break the bank but its still annoying, and the other 2 £6 charges make no sense to me.

Something else weird was on the phone the guy said 'so youve only had this account a couple of months?' Ive had the same account since 2006...

eskbanker

Wouldn't the February £6 be charges incurred in December and advised in January, i.e. such fees are typically a couple of months in arrears? Obviously when closing the account they'd need to catch up with the backlog....

marliepanda

eskbanker wrote: »

Wouldn't the February £6 be charges incurred in December and advised in January, i.e. such fees are typically a couple of months in arrears? Obviously when closing the account they'd need to catch up with the backlog....

No, Ive went back and checked and my Feb 10th fee was from Dec 21 - Jan 21,

Pre-advice note

Details of the account charges for the period 22 December 2016 to 20 January 2017

The total account charge we will take from account number xxxxxxxx on 10 February 2017 will be £6.00

and the current fee 'due' is Jan 21-Feb 21. That could be £6, plus a couple day charge as the account closed on the 23rd (the 0.25p maybe?) I actually was 'advised' of the £6 charge yesterday, Feb 22nd, so one day after the charging period and it would normally come out of my account on Mar 10th, I understand theyve taken it early.

Still leaves £12 outstanding. I guess it could be explained if the fee was accidentally triplicated?

PeacefulWaters

I guess it could be explained by asking Nat west.

It certainly isn't a charge for switching.

marliepanda

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

I guess it could be explained by asking Nat west.

It certainly isn't a charge for switching.

NatWest didn't know. Well not the 24 hour team and asked me to ring the switching team.

marliepanda

Boring update: charge was erroneous and has been returned.