NatWest bank - what have I done wrong?

red0209

I received a letter today via special courier on a motorbike which said:


Dear Mr XXXXX,

We, the National Westminster Bank plc, have recently undertaken a review of the banking arrangements that you have with us. We have, with regret, reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities for you.

Consequently, you will need to make alternative banking arrangement within thirty days of the date of this letter. These arrangements must be outside of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which includes National Westminster Bank plc.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide references for you.

Should you possess a debit card or chequebook, please return them using the enclosed pre-paid envelope to the above address. For security reasons, please cut the card(s) in two across the signature strip and magnetic strip before posting. Please also not that no further chequebooks will be supplied following the issue of this letter.

If the card(s) and cheque book(s) are not returned, recovery agents may be instructed to collect them.
Any monies owed to the Bank must be repaid within thirty days of the date of this letter, failing which the Bank will follow its normal debt recovery procedures.

If you have not made alternative arrangements within thirty days of the date of this letter, then any credit balances remaining on your account(s) will be returned to you in the form of a cheque payable to the account holder(s).

We assure you that we have only reached this decision after careful consideration, however our decision is final and we are not prepared to enter into any discussion in relation to it.

For and on behalf of NatWest plc.




I just don't quite get why they've done this, has anyone else had a similar experience with NatWest and/or another bank? They're doing me a favour really as I've been meaning to move to another bank account which offers more interest for some time but have never got around to doing it.

I would've thought I was an ideal customer for them. I opened the account almost 10 years ago when I became a university student and have kept it ever since. It has never been overdrawn in that time. This also means that I have never incurred bank charges which I then subsequently had to reclaim. I usually have a five-figure positive balance in the account which earns almost zero interest (it's a standard current account) and always pay in quite a lot of money each month.

Any comments much appreciated.

simax

It's because they've made no money out of you. Simple as really. Take your business to another bank/b-soc that will appreciate you.

FWIW, NatWorst are one of the worst banks IMO :beer:

jonesMUFCforever

It's nothing to do with what simax has written.

It is more probable that the bank thinks there is something dodgy with you paying in a lot of money as you call it each month.

red0209

That's what I was thinking was the most likely reason. I should've probably mentioned initially that I'm a professional gambler, which is the reason for the frequent large transactions. I still don't think this is any reason to close my account as I'm sure that many other people have regular gambling transactions on their accounts. There have been similar transactions on the account for most of the time it has been open and they've never had a problem. Payments from someone like Betfair are hardly dodgy in the eyes of most people IMO.

freddy08

I don't think the banks like people with irregular incomings and outgoings.

Its unfair though I agree.

B.E.N

Just an outside thought, but have you taken steps to ascertain that the letter is genuine?
The reasons that I ask are:

a) Because the letter asked you to return card & cheque to a postal address (and not by popping into a branch)

and

b) It said that it does not wish to discuss the matter further with you (if it were a scam, they would not want you phoning up NatWest to discuss the matter, would they?)

Or maybe it's just my suspicious mind...

KeithEssex_2

red0209 wrote: »

I received a letter today via special courier on a motorbike which said:


Dear Mr XXXXX,

We, the National Westminster Bank plc, have recently undertaken a review of the banking arrangements that you have with us. We have, with regret, reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities for you.

Consequently, you will need to make alternative banking arrangement within thirty days of the date of this letter. These arrangements must be outside of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which includes National Westminster Bank plc.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide references for you.

Should you possess a debit card or chequebook, please return them using the enclosed pre-paid envelope to the above address. For security reasons, please cut the card(s) in two across the signature strip and magnetic strip before posting. Please also not that no further chequebooks will be supplied following the issue of this letter.

If the card(s) and cheque book(s) are not returned, recovery agents may be instructed to collect them.
Any monies owed to the Bank must be repaid within thirty days of the date of this letter, failing which the Bank will follow its normal debt recovery procedures.

If you have not made alternative arrangements within thirty days of the date of this letter, then any credit balances remaining on your account(s) will be returned to you in the form of a cheque payable to the account holder(s).

We assure you that we have only reached this decision after careful consideration, however our decision is final and we are not prepared to enter into any discussion in relation to it.

For and on behalf of NatWest plc.




I just don't quite get why they've done this, has anyone else had a similar experience with NatWest and/or another bank? They're doing me a favour really as I've been meaning to move to another bank account which offers more interest for some time but have never got around to doing it.

I would've thought I was an ideal customer for them. I opened the account almost 10 years ago when I became a university student and have kept it ever since. It has never been overdrawn in that time. This also means that I have never incurred bank charges which I then subsequently had to reclaim. I usually have a five-figure positive balance in the account which earns almost zero interest (it's a standard current account) and always pay in quite a lot of money each month.

Any comments much appreciated.

I agree with B.E.N. Sounds like a scam - go to your branch and speak to them in person. If you need to return and cards / cheque books you can give them to the branch!

red0209

The strange thing was that another identical letter arrived today, except this one was just sent in the regular mail. I was going to contact NatWest anyway to confirm, but you raise some fair points there. If it is a scam, it's a pretty impressive one that many people would fall for probably. :eek:

red0209

By the way, the postal address also happens to be a PO Box, which probably means even more cause for concern.

I'll phone up now and see what's going on.

ukdutypaid

Keep us posted on that one....
You've been a good customer for years.... If they've got suspicions about the source of the money your funding the account with (and have been for a decade!), then they would contact the authorities, not just dump you....

Intriguing this one....

Kavanne

Have you tried going in to the branch and asking to speak to the manager? Explain your profession and see if that helps.