 student vs Nationwide
Good morning all, just joined this forum and have been reading through the various posts and v depressing reading they make too. I went into Nationwide in Basingstoke with my son to set up a student account before he went on his Gap year. At the time they asked what overdraft facility he wanted and we stipulated that he did not want one at all and did not want to be allowed to go into the red at all.
He then went to South America for 6 months. At some point whilst in SA he went about £10 overdrawn. He has subsequently been charged around £190 in unauthorised overdraft fees. He went in to pay these a few weeks ago but has been hit by further charges (which they did not warn him about when he went in to clear the debit) which have pushed him into the red again, creating a vicious circle.
He has sent the standard letter to Swindon to try and reclaim the charges and got a rebuttal saying that all investigations had been stopped pending the Test Case.
Nationwide won't allow me to talk to them even with my son's permission. In exasperation I sent an email to the Chief Exec on Friday although don't expect to hear anything back. Is it worth pursuing this further whilst the Test Case is going on ?
Here is the email I sent to the Chief Exec by the way:
Mr Beale,
I am writing to you in utter exasperation at the Nationwide’s treatment of him.
He set up the above account with you around 18 months ago before embarking on his Gap year in South America.
I went into your Basingstoke branch with him to set up the account.
We specifically requested that he should not have an overdraft facility as he was going to be in some remote places where it would be difficult to monitor his account.
Whilst on his Gap year he inadvertently went into the red by a few pounds, something that Nationwide should not have allowed to happen in the first place.
You subsequently charged him penal unauthorised overdraft fees which I am currently seeking legal advice about.
On his return to England he visited the branch to clear his overdraft which, by this time was nearly £200 thanks to your absurd charges.
He has now received another statement. He was in credit on this statement until , once again, you have imposed a further £20 unauthorised overdraft fee on him which has taken him into the red thus creating a self-feeding situation. What on earth is going on ?
I have tried to get him to either speak to, fax or email the Nationwide branch on Moorgate in London authorising me to deal with the situation but they insist that this cannot be done but that he must go to a branch himself. This is entirely impractical as he is at St Andrew’s university.
Why are you harassing a young person to this extent and making it so difficult for him to sort this out?
Additionally you have now charged him something like 10x the value of the amount that he originally went into the red.
The combination of this and the extraordinary unhelpfulness of your Moorgate branch have absolutely incensed me and hence my email to you.
Yours sincerely
Any thoughts gratefully received,
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