Advantage gold account

Samproths

Hi, I'm looking for some advice, I called natwest today and asked for the date my advantage gold account was opened, they gave me a date in 2004 which would have made me 17, and I know I opened this account after being persuaded and misled by a staff member, this was my first and only account I have ever opened, without my parents present, I have put forward a complaint using money saving expert website for help, but I have lack of documentation as it was 17 years ago, all I have is the statements that show the payment each month, I've been paying £15-£18 a month for 17 years, and I had no idea and could cancel at anytime, if they come back with a no, due to the time I've had the account is it possible for me to claim purely due to my age, I asked the lady on the phone how old you have to be to open such account and she replied 18, so surely they were in the wrong from the very start and can't get out of it, any advise or opinions? 

[Deleted User]

Wait for their response.

However, 17 years is a long time to be paying for something you didn't want.

Samproths

I honestly had no idea, I could change it, I didnt want to loose my account number change all my bills ect, and have only just been made aware I could have been misold it 

brettcta

Set your expectations to zero and it’ll lessen the disappointment when your complaint is rejected.

dunstonh

PBA complaints mostly fail nowadays as most of the banks have been issuing annual benefit statements telling you the account options and reminding you of the ability to switch to a free bank account.  That is sufficient to reject even considering your complaint if they started more than 3 years ago.

So, I would wait for the outcome.  Expect a rejection as that is the statistically likely outcome (even the FOS only uphold around 1 in 10 last time I looked).     You may be in the minority but, as mentioned above, expect nothing.

The age thing is irrelevant.    Branch managers have always had the ability to override the minimum age.  I had credit facilities at 16 thanks to a branch manager authorising it. 

[Deleted User]

The bank will almost certainly time bar it, under the rules: 6 years from account opening and 3 years from when you could reasonably have known you had reason to complain (which is triggered by them sending you a letter explaining the benefits and costs and the option to switch to a cheaper/fee free account which they will have been doing for years). If you didn't want the account you could have closed it years ago, the account details change when you switch accounts, everything is moved over, it's perfectly common these days.