Nationwide Failure to notify of accruing cusrges

Jwheldale

I hold a Nationwide Credit Card which i have not used for over 12 months - or so I thought. I inadvertently put a £3 payment in it in April this year ( it looks very similar to my debit card). To complicate things further I have recently moved house and Nationwide was the only company I did not notify. Mainly because I no longer use them or the card so simply forgot. I do however have a redirection on my post with Royal Mail. I discovered yesterday by chance as I was ringing to cancel the cards I don’t use that they sent a credit card bill following the payment which for some reason was returned to sender rather than redirected. They say that they put a block on the card , stopped sending correspondence for GDPR reasons and in their words just waited for me to realise the card was blocked and ring up. Hardly likely when I don’t use it .Since then they have month after month added late payment charges which totalled £51 and more worryingly sent off 2 bad credit notifications - all for an overlooked £3. I had no choice but to pay to avoid further charges due at the beginning of next month. The lady I spoke to had my mobile phone number on record and expressed surprise that they had not tried to  call me. I raised a complaint. Today the complaints team have admitted that they had not once tried to ring me and in her words it is my duty to tell them of an address change. Yes it is however what about treating the customer fairly ? They knew from the returned post I had moved so it was obvious I had through good old fashioned human error not told them. They had my number but chose not to use it - preferring to just keep adding charges and doing nothing about it . This could have gone on for months and months and maybe even resulted in debt collection agencies. Their own staff admitted they normally ring but the complaints team said it is their choice if they do or not. Fortunately as I have no debt at all my credit rating has barely been reduced and is still excellent 

However, I still feel strongly that they have a responsibility to at least try and warn me of the issue rather than letting costs escalate to make more profit and potentially destroy my long standing credit rating all for the sake of £3 inadvertently put on the wrong card .

Any advice or experience of a similar issue ?

Brie

I would have expected them to at least offer you a goodwill gesture to clear the fees.  They appear not to have consistent procedures for returned post and given that they did have means of contacting you they should have tried that.  

you say you also have a debit card with them.  did that address not get changed either?  Surely they could have connected the dots - other banks manage to.

Jwheldale

No - the debit card is with another bank . Halifax . The cards are the same colour 😩. I agree they should have tried and I expected an offer to at least reduce the fees . I am more concerned about what could have happened if it had gone on and their apparent apathy towards doing a single thing about it . Just sit and wait and let it happen ! 

born_again

Jwheldale said:

No - the debit card is with another bank . Halifax . The cards are the same colour 😩. I agree they should have tried and I expected an offer to at least reduce the fees . I am more concerned about what could have happened if it had gone on and their apparent apathy towards doing a single thing about it . Just sit and wait and let it happen ! 

However, I still feel strongly that they have a responsibility to at least try and warn me of the issue rather than letting costs escalate to make more profit and potentially destroy my long standing credit rating all for the sake of £3 inadvertently put on the wrong card .

Who put the £3 on the wrong card? Who failed to update the bank with the change of details?
Were you not monitoring the account? Which is even more important when a account is not being used.

Yet you expect them to refund you for your errors...🤦‍♂️

It could be that once it hits a certain amount it will then trigger the credit team to get involved.

Bain of banks, people failing to update changes of details. The complain when they are not contacted. 

[Deleted User]

Jwheldale said:

Fortunately as I have no debt at all my credit rating has barely been reduced and is still excellent 

Unfortunately, this just demonstrates how inaccurate the pretend CRA scoring system is. Your actual credit assessment, as carried out by lenders, will have taken a significant tumble with the multiple missed payments.

The CRA has scored you highly as you've been consistent in missing payments. 

However, several moths of good behaviour will out you in a better place and the impact will diminish with time. Consider putting DDs in place for your cards.

Ebe_Scrooge

Deleted_User said:

Jwheldale said:

Fortunately as I have no debt at all my credit rating has barely been reduced and is still excellent 

However, several moths of good behaviour will out you in a better place

Would slightly naughty butterflies have the same effect?

Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

SuperAllyB

Not got a Nationwide CC but do you not get an email or text when a new statement is available?

ItsComingRome

SuperAllyB said:

Not got a Nationwide CC but do you not get an email or text when a new statement is available?

Yes but I'm registered for paperless statements, it's very possible that they don't do this for those with paper statements.

SuperAllyB

ItsComingRome said:

SuperAllyB said:

Not got a Nationwide CC but do you not get an email or text when a new statement is available?

Yes but I'm registered for paperless statements, it's very possible that they don't do this for those with paper statements.

Surely easier to keep track with paper statements.  I know I open statements even if I think I haven't spent anything.

[Deleted User]

SuperAllyB said:

ItsComingRome said:

SuperAllyB said:

Not got a Nationwide CC but do you not get an email or text when a new statement is available?

Yes but I'm registered for paperless statements, it's very possible that they don't do this for those with paper statements.

Surely easier to keep track with paper statements.  I know I open statements even if I think I haven't spent anything.

They don't generate statements if there has been no transactions and it has a zero balance.

phillw

Successful complaints when it was your fault take luck, charm & giving them enough of an impression that you'll make a good case to the ombudsman.

Have you complained to royal mail about the failed redirection that you're paying for? You could tell them about the loss.

The problem with return to sender letters is that they can sit in the system for months (my sister worked in a sorting office and they had about six months worth), so it's difficult to blame the credit card company for not realizing you weren't receiving your mail. So I'm not sure I'd bother getting bogged down with that.

They really ought to send a text message for a missing payment as a letter takes too long