Got my 30 quid back :-)

[warwound]

Just decided to start my first thread here on this forum...

I found this forum while searching for info about 'unpaid direct debit fees' which i'd just been debited £30 from my Nationwide Flex account.

I had a balance of £1.07 in my Flex account when a direct debit for £3.16 was charged to my account.
28 days after the direct debit failed my account was charged £30 'unpaid direct debit fee' and this left me nearly £15 overdrawn!

So i visited the local branch of the Nationwide to be told that a local branch cannot reimburse a charge once it's been deducted from your account.
A letter to their main office was required to request them to review the decision to charge me £30.

20 or 30 minutes was all that was required to compose a reasonable letter to their main office. I printed it out and returned to the local branch to hand the letter in - for them to forward to their main office.

So to put dates on all this:

1. 12th May - My account is charged £3.16 and my account balance is just £1.07 so the direct debit fails.
2. 9th June - Nationwide deduct £30 'Unpaid direct debit fee' from my account leaving me £14.56 overdrawn.
3. 12th June - I hand in a letter to my local branch requesting their main office to review the charge, a bit of a sob story letter you all understand!!
4. 18th June - Looking at my account online i see a 'Correction' credit of £30 and the details screen says 'Refund of unpaid direct debit fee'.

I'm happy that the Nationwide can be human and sensible - but i wonder just how few people do complain and claim a refund of such charges?
I'd suspect just a very small percentage of such charges to be contested and the majority being 'nice little earners' for the banks and building societies!

warwound.

[dolly]

Originally Posted by warwound

i wonder just how few people do complain and claim a refund of such charges?
I'd suspect just a very small percentage of such charges to be contested and the majority being 'nice little earners' for the banks and building societies!

warwound.

That is exactly my point. For every one of ME (who is claiming charges back) there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people like my husband or my mum who won't - simply because they are either too scared (believing it won't work) or can't be bothered. So although this site survey suggests banks have paid out over £750k to people in refunded charges, it is pennies to what they are charging customers day in day out.

So endeth my rant and congratulations