overwhelmed with charges-single parent

[savill1]

I've just received my statements this morning after requesting them last week following charges of £111.00 after going overdrawn by just over £7.00 for a period of 1 day (well not even that-less than 12 hours) and have ploughed through them to find i have been charged £1,451 over a 2 year period. my income support i receive is £112 a week. You can imagine my utter distress. I hasten to add i am careful with money, i have to be, all of the charges are typical to examples like this, where i've checked my balance at a cashpoint, believed i've had enough money in to make a payment, had it authorised, only to find something that shows as not having gone out actually has. Some of the charges arose for amounts of under a pound and for periods of no more than 1 day. Ive read as much as i possibly can take in at the moment on here and will be sending a letter to the bank today. If anyone can offer me any words of advice with dealing with NatWest they would be gratefully appreciated as i have every intention of claiming this money back. Ive worked hard for over 18 years and to find myself on income support bringing up 2 children is difficult enough, but to lose 10% of my income to the bank is taking me 10% below the legal minimum amount we need to live on, below the poverty line..a difficult and impossible situation.

Hi, and welcome!

Please read the FAQ's section before beginning, as you will have a lot to read and take on board first. If you then have any questions which you need answering, please feel free to post again after this.

We are here to help, but ultimately, its your claim and your responsibility!

Good Luck,

Louise x

[savill1]

Hi, many thanks for the welcome! On reading the letter templates i notice there is the preliminary letter, requesting the money back and the 2nd letter before court action. Is it possible to combine the 2 and just give them 14 days to refund the money before beginning court action as from what i have read no-one seems to get anywhere with the first letter when dealing with NatWest? Given that my most recent charges were applied immediately without any notice at all i think it's only fair to give them the chance to repay my money within 14 days and if they dont, file my claim online without any further notice. I dont want to go off course and do anything unethical, but i do just want to cut to the chase and if i have to go to court with this then i want to just go forward full steam ahead!

You must follow the guidelines, they are there for a reason, and that is because you need to allow them time to reasonably respond to your letters. 14 days and then court is not long enough for the Judge to be on your side usually. That is why we have the 2 letters. There is alot of reasearch to do in this time too, so will give you time to plan ahead.

Louise xx