RBS Royalties Gold Account

susanejago

Be prepared for a fight with RBS. I made a complaint via Resolver. They came back to me saying I'm not entitled to any money back. I was talked into the account in 2008 and paid £12 a month for 5 years. I was told I needed the account to be able to apply for a loan & overdraft. When the loan application was processed it was declined but I was not told there were any other accounts which were fee free. I subsequently got an overdraft a few months later but after 1 hour on the telephone today I was repeatedly asked why I didn't complain before now. I said because I didn't think I could. He said he would review the decision but I'm not holding my breath, very disappointed with the whole thing. 

eskbanker

Given the direction the conversation was going in, it sounds like your complaint is being rejected on timebarring grounds, since financial institutions are entitled to do this (regardless of the merits of a claim) if it's beyond six years after the alleged misselling (2008 > 2014 here), or three years after the complainant was aware, or reasonably should have been aware, of it (2013 > 2016 here) - if you stopped paying monthly charges in 2013 then you'll be deemed to have been aware then of the fact that free accounts were available.

Unfortunately there is no point in escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service in such circumstances as they're unable to overturn institutions' decisions to reject complaints as timebarred....

susanejago

Thanks for your reply, the time element, although he referred to it didn't appear to be the issue. What he said was when the loan application was turned down I should have opted for a fee free account but as I explained, I was never offered it nor knew there was another account which was free available to me. 

jackjones01

The same rules would apply regarding the time barred, you can challenge it on the hope you’ll be successful but I doubt you’d get anywhere. 

stclair

With Royalties Gold you used to get preferential rates on loans and overdrafts.  You will struggle to get the money back given the time that’s passed.