NatWest closing my 2 Reward accounts out of the blue

ratechaser

Thrugelmir said:

In the middle of a pandemic/recession applying for overdraft facilities of which you have no need is somewhat daft. Lenders haven't the time or resources to drill down into the finer detail. One lost customer is neither nor there. Particularly if they have banking facilities elsewhere. The old 80/20 business model.  20% of customers generate 80% of profits. 

None of us here will ever know, but it does sound a lot more likely that it's the 2 sole reward accounts rather than the o/d applications that have triggered this.

- Is it perhaps heavy handed: yes
- Is it within Natwest's terms of business that they can do this: yes
- Is there anything else the OP can do to get more information or change their mind: no chance

And that's really all that can be said... other than just a warning to others, don't try and open multiple sole reward accounts!

Alex9384

Thrugelmir said:

In the middle of a pandemic/recession applying for overdraft facilities of which you have no need is somewhat daft. Lenders haven't the time or resources to drill down into the finer detail. One lost customer is neither nor there. Particularly if they have banking facilities elsewhere. The old 80/20 business model.  20% of customers generate 80% of profits. 

If it's daft, then why they've been offering me the overdraft increase for months and even years? Pandemics or not, their offers didn't change in any way.
If I'm a lender and I don't want to provide you more OD, I surely don't offer 10x the amount of the OD you already have, every single time you log into your online banking.

colsten

ratechaser said:

None of us here will ever know

Agreed. Unless a miracle happens and Natwest tell the OP why they did what they did.

ratechaser said:

it does sound a lot more likely that it's the 2 sole reward accounts rather than the o/d applications that have triggered this.

Pure speculation, as there is no evidence that Natwest (or RBS) enforce that a 2nd Reward account must be in joint names.

zzyzx1221

colsten said:

ratechaser said:

None of us here will ever know

Agreed. Unless a miracle happens and Natwest tell the OP why they did what they did.

ratechaser said:

it does sound a lot more likely that it's the 2 sole reward accounts rather than the o/d applications that have triggered this.

Pure speculation, as there is no evidence that Natwest (or RBS) enforce that a 2nd Reward account must be in joint names.

Well there is the terms and conditions;

5.4 From 1 February 2020, you may not open a Reward account if you already have a Reward, Reward Silver, Reward Platinum or Reward Black account ('existing account'), unless: • the Reward account you want to open is a sole account and your existing account is a joint account, or • the Reward account you want to open is a joint account and your existing account is a sole account.

But I suppose technically speaking that isn't evidence of enforcement.  

Then again, if we're going to go down that route there's no evidence that Natwest are shutting it down for the overdrafts, or I suppose any evidence that Natwest shut people's accounts down for fraud, suspected money laundering or a whole host of things as they never seem to divulge the reasons why they're shutting accounts down in the goodbye letters.

Thrugelmir

Alex9384 said:

Thrugelmir said:

In the middle of a pandemic/recession applying for overdraft facilities of which you have no need is somewhat daft. Lenders haven't the time or resources to drill down into the finer detail. One lost customer is neither nor there. Particularly if they have banking facilities elsewhere. The old 80/20 business model.  20% of customers generate 80% of profits. 

If it's daft, then why they've been offering me the overdraft increase for months and even years?

Do you think that you are receiving personalised offers? That the banks are talking to you directly. One suspects not. As they have millions of customers.  Daft to believe that you have been singled you out. 

colsten

zzyzx1221 said:

But I suppose technically speaking that isn't evidence of enforcement.  

Exactly. There is also more than one MSE Forumite who has more than one sole Natwest (and RBS) Reward. So one could go as far a saying there is evidence that they do not enforce it but perhaps it's best to leave it right here.

zzyzx1221 said:

Then again, if we're going to go down that route there's no evidence that Natwest are shutting it down for the overdrafts, or I suppose any evidence that Natwest shut people's accounts down for fraud, suspected money laundering or a whole host of things as they never seem to divulge the reasons why they're shutting accounts down in the goodbye letters.

Totally agree. That's why I said earlier that unless a miracle happens and Natwest tell the OP why they did what they did, we'll never know.

colsten

Thrugelmir said:

Do you think that you are receiving personalised offers? That the banks are talking to you directly. One suspects not. As they have millions of customers.  Daft to believe that have singled you out. 

They are making you personalised offers, in as far as some software works out what they would offer you, and they show you their offers in the app - clearly in the hope that you would take them up on their offers. My overdraft offer, for several thousands, appeared about a month into me holding my current / savings / investment  accounts with them. I haven't taken them up on their offers and don't plan on doing so.

zzyzx1221

colsten said:

zzyzx1221 said:

But I suppose technically speaking that isn't evidence of enforcement.  

Exactly. There is also more than one MSE Forumite who has more than one sole Natwest (and RBS) Reward. So one could go as far a saying there is evidence that they do not enforce it but perhaps it's best to leave it right here.

zzyzx1221 said:

Then again, if we're going to go down that route there's no evidence that Natwest are shutting it down for the overdrafts, or I suppose any evidence that Natwest shut people's accounts down for fraud, suspected money laundering or a whole host of things as they never seem to divulge the reasons why they're shutting accounts down in the goodbye letters.

Totally agree. That's why I said earlier that unless a miracle happens and Natwest tell the OP why they did what they did, we'll never know.

Pre Feb 2020?

I tend to agree with the other poster that this is more likely than the overdraft situation, in fact when I saw the thread title I thought "I wonder if they have two sole Reward accounts?", although in either scenario I'm at a bit of a loss as to why Natwest would allow someone to do something they don't want them to do and then kick them out, instead of just stopping them doing it in the first place.  Especially as my experience of converting these accounts (very recently) was that it takes two or three days to do, which hints heavily towards it being a manual process so it's not like they've taken advantage of a glitch in an automated system.

colsten

zzyzx1221 said:

Pre Feb 2020?

No.

.......

kaMelo

colsten said:

zzyzx1221 said:

But I suppose technically speaking that isn't evidence of enforcement.  

Exactly. There is also more than one MSE Forumite who has more than one sole Natwest (and RBS) Reward. So one could go as far a saying there is evidence that they do not enforce it but perhaps it's best to leave it right here.

zzyzx1221 said:

Then again, if we're going to go down that route there's no evidence that Natwest are shutting it down for the overdrafts, or I suppose any evidence that Natwest shut people's accounts down for fraud, suspected money laundering or a whole host of things as they never seem to divulge the reasons why they're shutting accounts down in the goodbye letters.

Totally agree. That's why I said earlier that unless a miracle happens and Natwest tell the OP why they did what they did, we'll never know.

Whilst I agree there is no way the OP will ever find out the real reason, I think the evidence proves the contrary that they do enforce the terms when they find infringements. They're just a bit slow and/or not very good at finding them.