Please help against Natwest

Lou89

My boyfriend lost his job back in May time this year and tried for a month or two to get a new job. He managed to get a job with a large telecoms company but was told he wouldnt start until September. In the meantime I paid all the bills but as I am doing an NVQ, I am on very small wages and couldnt afford to pay one of his loans in full each month... So i agreed to make some sort of token payment to show we were still making every effort. Unfortunately whenever I tried to do so (about 8 times) Natwest said they would get someone to call me back - and never did... they gave us lots of charges as his direct debits kept trying to come out and for each one he got a charge which put his over his overdraft thus more charges and so by trying to clear these I could nolonger afford to make any more payments on the loan.

He visited the branch, rang them on several occasions, even faxed them a copy of his contract to try and show he would repay the arrears once he started his job.

After lots and lots of phone calls (by this time he had started his job) we made an agreement in the branch that we would pay £100 there and then and then after that we would pay £400 a month until the arrears were cleared. We also wanted them to reinstate the direct debit - We were told we would get a call to confirm this. They took the £100 but we never got a call to confirm this argreement and he got a text asking him to ring them. Apparently there is no way that they would accept this agreement as the arrears have to be paid off in full... so we agreed to increase his overdraft to cover the arrears and they would reduce the overdraft by £250 per month until it was the standard £500 overdraft. We had a signed agreement with terms and conditions stating this.

Last week he found this overdraft had dissapeared and we both feared the worst - another charge at the end of the month and that they were going to default us! But no... apparently the first agreement should not have been made because they forgot to include charges and interest...

I tried telling them if an agreement has been made they have to stick by it as we have it in black and white but he wouldnt listen and in the end we agreed to the idea that he would increase our overdraft to cover the arrears and all charges and interest and he would reimburse our charge as a gesture of goodwill... two days ago we had the agreement through the post and guess what.... yesterday we checked online and the overdraft has dissapeared again and its now showing as we are over £1800 over drawn!!

This has been an ongoing case for months now and im really getting sick of it, we have cooperated in every way possible and it just gets thrown back at us. What can we do? We are planning on seeing Citizens Advice - Do you think we have a good case? Im terrified that he will be defaulted and this really wont help us get a house once the bills are paid off

Thanks,
Lou x

fast_track

It's a good idea to go to Citizen's Advice. I would also suggest that you send this as a letter, clearly marked complaint to Nat West
National Westminster Bank, Collections Centre, PO Box 5433, Birmingham B1 2WZ.
Tel. No. 0845 303 9015.
Fax. 0121 566 1510
Textphone 0800 404 6161.
As it is your partner's loan you need to get him to sign it too. However make sure they realise that you, who owe them nothing, have been very distressed by their actions. If you do not get a satisfactory response then take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman so they can investigate. I don't think we complain enough. Also, is there PPI on this loan, if there is make a claim on it. Good luck

Lou89

There is no PPI as he had this on a previous loan and it didnt help in he slightest when he was made redundant.

We will be visiting Citizen's Advice next Thurs and will let you know what they say

Thanks
Lou x

Dylanwing

I presume that you have now got a new Bank Account and cancelled all DD's with Nat Worst.

Lou89

Dylanwing wrote: »

I presume that you have now got a new Bank Account and cancelled all DD's with Nat Worst.

He is getting paid into my account for the time being and yes all DDs apart from the loan are cancelled from his personal account.