Natwest Under 18 accounts now useless.

Legacy_user

Natwest's new trick is to withdraw cashcard facilities from under 18's without informing them.

My daughter (14) found that her card wasn't working. When she visited the bank we were told that they were now withdrawing Solo cards from under 18's due to the number of cases of kids in school being bullied into taking money out of their account ( !!!!!! kids are doing taking their cashcard to school is another question).

So my daughter is now in the situation where she can only get money by visiting the bank. As the nearest bank is 8 miles away, doesn't open on Saturdays and it is impossible to get her from school to the bank before it closes, the bank is now holding £1000+ of my daughter's money that she has no access to.

Thank you Natwest. Due to your new policy the complete family will now be moving all their accounts away from you. Your loss not mine. Up to this point I and my family had no problem with them

chuckley

did u ask them where the letter was?? and y u wasnt told?

RibAd

This may sound like an odd question, but do all her statements go to her home address or to the bank's address? If it's the bank's address then she wouldn't receive updates to her account as they would be held in branch and it should be the case that the branch manager should contact her directly as a Notice of Variation (NOV) should have been issued.

However, I think you should take this up with her bank manager directly if their only reason is an anti-bully campaign (which I can understand the logic, but I don't think it's a good enough reason as bullying can be at any age and any stage of life).

Helix

Still says you get a card on the website: http://www.natwest.com/personal02.asp?id=PERSONAL/DAY_TO_DAY/CURRENT_ACCOUNTS/NATWEST_ADAPT

Are you sure they are not just taking the solo part away as I see no mention of that on the account page. They still let you have a card to use in cash machines.

uktim29

I'm currently in the process of moving my current account with Natwest to another bank but keeping it open so I can use it as a business account (but without the fees lol). I can tell you now the process takes ages. My transfer still hasn't finished, I started in January!

System

To answer the various questions

There answer to why no letter was 'Oh you should have got one'

All correspondence comes to her home address
The card does not work either through chip and pin at a retailer or in a cash machine.

As has been said. as an anti-bullying measure it would have been more understandable if all the banks took the same line.

It would also appear that there policy is that, if the person has had no problem with the card then it will carry on working. If there has been a problem ( my daughter had to get the pin reset about 5 months ago) then they are now disabling the cards. So it is therefore not a consistent policy.

kr15snw

Hmmm I think you can get electron cards / solo cards with other banks now. HSBC is one that I think does an under 18's solo card.

Have you thought about moving banks?

System

That's what we intend to do. The complete family (5 accounts in total) , up to this point banked with them. (I've been with the same branch for 35 years)

coolmumh

Ok this is worrying as my step-daughter has an account with Nat West which we transfer her pocket money to...............but as far as im aware it still active.....do you think we need to contact them to see if the same thing is likely to happen ?

kr15snw

I would reccomend barclays for your daughters account.

She can get a visa electron card until she is working, they will then upgrade this to a visa debit card (accepted everywhere that accepts cards) when she starts earning (even part time!).

golddustmedia

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND BARCLAYS! lol.

You clearly state you've banked with NatWest for 35 years and had no problems with them. Branch managers have the discretion to resolve problems and overrule policy. Since aside from this you've had problem free banking I'd advise visiting or writing to your branch manager and ask him to reactivate her card, citing that otherwise you'll be forced to bank elsewhere. Due to the logistics of visiting the branch in person. Shouldn't cause any problem to get her card active again.


Otherwise you face the peril of finding a new bank, getting establised etc only to find similar may happen but you have no history with them.

I'm fastidious with my banking and personally would warn against HSBC and Barclays, both of whom have presented themselves to friends/family offering terrible service and being obstructive.

There is only 1 bank I EVER recommend and that's RBS who I've banked with without problem since I was 4 (I'm now 31).

In essence I would urge you to resolve your problem with your current bank before going elsewhere, but if you're going to go elsewhere pick a decent bank!

And yes, my Daddy was a bank manager. He taught me everything!