NATWEST charge nearly £5k interest after DMP

Johnstead

I hope this is the right forum.

After uni and training course I owed £44,000 (credit cards and professional development course). I was working at a job that would allow me to pay back the instalments.

However, I then got a job a trainee barrister. The pay was £12k for the year. I went into a DMP with CCCS, now step change.

My major debtor was NATWEST. A £15,000 career development loan and £2,000 overdraft.

I have now paid for 12 years and everything is clear. Apart from Natwest, They have added, at some point, £5,000 interest.

I have started the Financial Ombundsman process.

Has anyone had experience of this? I have now paid Natwest £3,000 more than I ever borrowed. I know they can still add interest, but seems punitive.

Any help, greatly appreciated.

.

-taff

You borrowed 17,000 pounds and didn't pay it all back, including the interest.
Therefore, they added the interest, which at 5,000 over 12 years is not excessive given you were probably paying back less than the contractural obligation each month.

You could offer them a settlement.

sourcrates

Hi,

Unfortunately any suspension of interest is entirely at the discretion of the creditor, they are under no obligation to stop interest on a debt repaid via a DMP.

However, they are obliged to treat you fairly, as you were in financial difficulty, if you can show you were treated unfairly by them not suspending/stopping interest, then you may have a case.

Johnstead

Thank you for replies.

Will go to the FO,

They added interest, from what i can work out, for five years without telling me.

PixelPound

Johnstead wrote: »

Thank you for replies.

Will go to the FO,

They added interest, from what i can work out, for five years without telling me.

The original loan will have been interest bearing, so I'm not sure what they have done wrong. Was the DMP just to accept lower payments per month? Normally part of the negotiation is to request that the interest be frozen, was this requested, was it confirmed, or was it assumed that as they had agreed lower payments as part of the DMP? The interest looks around 4%, so not really punitive

Johnstead

So it worked, threatened to go to the FO.

Natwest have cancelled all my accounts and repaid nearly £5,000 in interest. They didn't accept they were at fault, just said their way of dealing with debt has changed during the years.