Bank Charges

so_so_2

HI,

This is my first post in the section so bear with me.

Im not the wealthiest person in the world, far from. I have debts of around 20k. 10k of that is for my motor bike and partners car HP.

I earn around 37k a year and partner is 10k although she is changing jobs this month to 17k, but we will have around 6 k a year in child care costs as we have a 14 month old baby and a 6 year old daughter. We get child benifit but dont claim tax credits.

Admititly we do spend alot of money on toys and meals out etc but the bills are always paid, We live out life from month to month.. Healthy bank balance, then zero to payday etc. No savings at all. If an unexpected bill comes in then it knocks us a bit for a month, but we recover.

We have really pulled things around as we used to be around 35k in debt, not including the HP as thats recent.

Which leads on. I use HSBC for our wages and we transfer across a set amount each month no Natwest which pays all the bills. Doing it this way means what ever is left in HSBC is ours.

Last month my wages at work were a bit !!!! about face with the tax year changing over. Meaning I only got 3 weeks wages but this month I got 5 weeks (4 plus that extra week from last month)

This all ment that we could not transfer over the normal payment, meaning our bills were not paid. That isnt the issue as I've recovered this month by having that extra weeks wages.

The problem lies with Natwest. I should of in heignsight canceled the DD's but I buried my head in the sand hoping we would be ok.

I got a call the other day to say the account was -480. I know that I transfered across £100 and we should of had a debit card refund of £80. Which means that minus figure would have been -660. This is all bank charges. The account was passed to their collections team. By doing this they have blocked my online banking access so I cant actually check whats going on and the branch wont give me a statment as the account at the moment is not with them.

I phoned up the collections dpt and spoke to the man there. I wanted a full refund but he could only authorse £76, which is better then nothing. I then paid £450 with my debit card to bring the balance healthy. Its now being passed back from collections to the branch but will take a couple days, mean while I still cannot view any statments.

I asked how I could claim the lot back and I have to contact customer relations who incedently dont have a phone number, I've got to write to them. Why do they make it so hard??

Anyway, based on my figures surely approx £700 a month in bank charges is a bit OTT!!!!
I think i have around 6 DD's and I know that one check bounced, then I assume that all tried a few times.

At no point in that month did I receve any correspondance from natwest as to what was happening. I've had no letters saying what payments were not made and I have no letters detailing thier charges? So Im still in the dark as to what payments were made, if any?

Most of the companys have wrote to me to say the payment was not made. The trouble now Is I've got to make this months payments, plus last months payments plus I;ve lost £700 in charges.

Im going to be right back where I started with more bank charges.

I suppose what I'm looking for is a bit of help in personally pursuing the claim with natwset for this month, or to get a least some of the money back. I'm not really fussed about a odd charge months back.

Any pointers in what I should write, Should I mention the ongoing OFT case? Is there any legal jargon I can include? Any phrases in particular I should mention? Is the fact that I've had no letters explaining the charges or missed payments a issue ?

Many Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Craig.

boredofbeingathome

Hi So So, ignore the above poster.It is a troll and has been reported for abuse.

Please see the newbie warning thread about trolls, and feel free to join in the trolls thread....... if they don't delete it, and add your own thoughts about troll activity.

Welcome to the board, and keep posting.
BOB X

LilacPixie

Hi Craig

Ignore the one brain celled wonder. Some people just have no lives.

When do you get paid?? What about your wife if its a joint account. I know its not exactly ethical but how about opening a joint account elsewhere get both wages paid in there so your not caught in a vicious circle of charges.

You can then query the charges etc with natwest and then come to some arrangment to pay them if they are infact due.

You could also post your full SOA here and we will all help you find some savings in your outgoings and help you budget a bit better so it doesn't happen again.

Welcome to the board x

Horace

Welcome to the forum so so. Also please ignore the troll that has posted nasty things he has been reported several times but he hasnt got the message yet.

Hopefully, I can give a bit of advice - I know that on the main part of this website (not the forum) Martin has kindly put a notice about bank charges and how to claim them - he's a very clever chap and has even put template letters that you can download and amend for your own purposes. One thing that gets banks to sit up and take notice is the threat to move banks - I know that First Direct is part of HSBC but they're purely an online account (if you want to make payments into the bank you need to go to an HSBC branch - if you're paying in cheques or cash). First Direct will give new customers £100 for opening an account - their overdraft rates are not too bad either.

If you have credit cards - become what is known as a card tart and transfer the balances to a 0% balance-transfer card (Martin also lists details of these), that way you're not paying interest - when it comes close to the 0% offer ending you transfer the debt to another 0% balance transfer card. One thing though, never ever spend on the 0% card.

Explain to your employer that by paying you 3 weeks' money that you incurred bank charges - if they are reasonable they should pay these for you.

Blimey, I am starting to sound like an expert:D I am not really, I have just had to do the same things as you but I am in a worse situation being on the dole but I have managed to get myself together.

Stick around and I am sure that someone with more expertise than me will come along with more and perhaps better advice.

itsnever2lateisit?

iamlegend wrote: »

so ditch the motorbike and other half whats wrong with you scumbags you all want somethingfor nothing you makje me sick pay up you owe it scum on my tits

If your brains were made of dynamite there wouldnt be enough to blow a hat of your head


Oh and may your rectum be infected with the fleas of 1000 camels and your arms drop off:rotfl:

thepinkladez_2

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: you just made me spit my cuppa everywhere!

If your brains were made of dynamite there wouldnt be enough to blow a hat of your head


Oh and may your rectum be infected with the fleas of 1000 camels and your arms drop off:rotfl:

itsnever2lateisit?

Personally I would find another bank, as per Martin's list of best buys, move to that and then write to NatWest asking for ALL the charges back to 2002
I wasnt too bothered with charges at first but when my back heaped charges on charges, I decided that if they wanted to play hard and dirty so would I, to the petty extent that when in town I often pop in and pay in 10p:o

Numpty_Monkey

:hello: Hi so so


Sorry that the first responce you got on here was from a "troll"
we are not like that here

This is the most friendly, helpfull and supportive site you can ever find:A

please keep posting

so_so_2

Thanks peeps,

Regarding my debts, They arnt really much of a problem. We pay them off comfortably now, unlike a few years ago when it was beans on toast most nights.

The main reason for posting here was to get some advice on approaching natwest nicely, not wanting to claim back charges from years and years, just from this month. Hopefully with a nicely worded letter they may take pitty and refund some, if not all of the money. I wouldn't want to go in to heavy and turn their back up and not get a penny.

Also to add,

I've paid the charges, Infact they were paid as soon as I was notifed (by automated call from the natwest) which may go in my favour. I had applied for a £200 overdraft when I knew I would be short for the month which was refused. Had that of been allowed I wouldnt not have faced these charges.
My account is now in a healthy state but this month is going to be tight one since £660 of my money have been basically washed down the drain in charges, that £660 almost pays my months bills, minus rent. I'll have to play around with the bills and pay the important ones first and see whats left.

At the moment I can do nothing to look at my account or request a overdraft until the account is returned from collections back to the branch. Which should be tommorow.

Which is another thing that annoyed me, Natwest blocking me accessing my account online? How crazy is that? So far I havnt got a clue what the charges have been for, nor do I know how much each charge was, nor do I know what bills have been paid. I believe by natwest blocking my online banking access fueled to the problem even more as I use internet banking all the time. The more I think about it it just makes me so angry.

Maybe a letter to a newspaper would be in order, How can a bank justify £660 in charges in one month, without even notifying me that a payment was refused and without prior warning to the charge, plus blocking my access to view my account status. Infact maybe they are not all charges, maybe some payments went through!!!!!!! Who knows as I cant find out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Infact I'm going to cancel the natwest bank and take my business else where. B*&tards!!!!!!

At least when HSBC charge you they let you know then charge you the following month.

bubbles0169

so so
hope youve got it through to you that this forum is great and for every 1 troll there are 100's of decent people!
re your bank troubles
have you ever received a leaflet from natwest telling you that they will tell you when they'r going to charge you and how much
my bank did send me one and i thought it was the norm for all banks that they have to tell you in advance
my OH has just informed me he has received a letter telling him of charges due and that was for an amount nowhere near as high as yours
of course they should have told you
can anyone else help with all the technical bank speak to go in the letter please!

Bismarck

itsnever2lateisit? wrote: »

If your brains were made of dynamite there wouldnt be enough to blow a hat of your head


Oh and may your rectum be infected with the fleas of 1000 camels and your arms drop off:rotfl:

quality...wasted on this vermin though...please use simple words that Iamidiot can understand