NatWest £38 charge BT came in too early

Bosie

My hubby has only just moved to Natwest, anyway we had a DD to go out on the 24th June, BT decieded to ask for it on the 17th June!
Today got a letter to say we have been charged £38 (from Natwest)
Phoned up and BT said it was an error, phoned the lending dept and a woman there said, a DD can come in when it wants?????

Do you think this fee can be be reversed?
Really fed up, can see him going back to the co-op bank.

natweststaffmember

NatWest Bank will say that it is not THEIR error which BT have already admitted. Therefore the advice would be to recover the charge from BT. You may be lucky to get it refunded as a one off Gesture of Goodwill but I would be surprised if this happens.

Bosie

Thanks for your thoughts, I personally don't like DD you lose control of your account really. Could I take it to another level? Oftel for instance as I was always sure there was a guarantee with a DD?

natweststaffmember

The issue is that BT have tried to claim the money early and that because of that you have incurred a charge. Firstly try speaking to BT, or better, write to them and explain what they have done. Once they have responded then post on her and we can give you more advice.

You could ask NatWest as a Gesture of Goodwill and the fact he is a new account holder to refund as a one off.

Bosie

This is the first time he's had a bank charge! Quite a shocker at £38! The other thing with the online banking - it doesn't show a new DD set up?
Think he'll close the account otherwise.
Thanks for advice.

virgin_moneysaver

if you've got it in writing that the agreement with BT is for the 24th then you can claim with natwest under the indemnity scheme BUT that would only be for the amount of the DD - BT would still have to refund the charge as there was not an error on Natwest's part

the other thing is that dd's are on or after the agreed date - sometimes, especially with a first payment, they can come out after the agreed date

e.g agreement 24th starting in May - not taken out until 17th June (Mays payment) then June's payment could be taken out on 24th June & then 24th of month thereafter

I'm not saying that this is the case here but I have seen this happen on numerous occassions

YorkshireBoy

virgin_moneysaver wrote: »

...you can claim with natwest under the indemnity scheme

The claim will have to be under the 'guarantee' scheme. The 'indemnity' scheme is what NatWest will use to recover the money (that they've paid out) from BT.

... the other thing is that dd's are on or after the agreed date...

...unless, of course, a notice says "on or around" or "on the last working day prior to this date" as some of them do (Capital One and JLP credit cards being two such examples).

If OP's hubby suffers a 'black mark' on his credit file due to this, then first off ask NatWest to remove it. If they won't, then you may want to put a monetary value on this and take it further with BT.

Bosie

Thing is my hubby isn't too well at the moment and could do without the stress, he's sorry now he changed to Natwest. First time in his life he has had a charge. It wasn't a first payment with BT, although YES because of him being new at Natwest.
I phoned BT and the girl said it was their error! Should have taped her saying it:o It definitely says the 24th of June, also Natwest have taken £38 out of his account, can't believe all that for a letter, that would cost about £1
Have read postings and will see next move, Oftel or Watchdog:money:

Bo x

Bosie

Just copied and pasted the Direct Debit Notification. The bill was generated on June 10th.

Total now due
£83.22
This amount will be debited from your bank or building society account on or after 24 June 2008.
Yet they went in on the 17th June.

natweststaffmember

With regards to DD, the money was NOT paid out. The mistake is with BT(on this occasion) and they need to repay the charge incurred. Bosie, is it a Step or Current plus account? Did the charge mean the account exceeded the overdraft facility or take you into minus figures? There MAY be another charge also due as a result but unless i know the type of account I cannot say for certain.

borgbaiter

hi

I found this in natwests "Our Comitment To You"

"A simple overview of our commitment to the Banking Code and our complaints procedure"

booklet

"Our Direct Debit Guarantee protects you against unauthorised Direct Debits being taken from your account in error, whether by a company or organisation, or by ourselves. For example, if:

- too much is taken;
- it is taken too early;

- it is taken after you have cancelled;
- you have not been given enough notice of a change to a Direct Debit amount or date.

If you think an amount has been wrongly taken from your account under a Direct Debit, tell us straight away and if it is an error, we will give you a full refund."

Although it doesnt mention fee's it wouldnt be unreasonable to assume these would form part of the "full" refund. if they do not refund it would probably be possible to take this on to the ombudsman as it isnt really a bank charges issue as its the result of ambiguaty in the Direct Debit Guarantee.

Borgbaiter