The only advice I can give is don't leave correspondence until the last day when you're supposed to be making the payment. Most financial institutions state in their T&Cs that if you're unable to make a payment or falling into financial difficulty the sooner you contact them the sooner they'll be able to sort something out - By leaving it til the date of the payment they'll probably just take the payment, begin charging interest and making their additional profit and then they'll take their time to consider the repayment plan. Another option is to look at refinancing it with another institution possibly?

Best of luck.

Just to throw in my own two cents and hopefully give some decent advice ... If your girlfriend wasn't informed of the monthly fee then she might have a claim that she was mis-sold the product. However, a double edged sword in that when she signed the paperwork she effectively agreed that she would pay it. Part of the process of opening the account, either in the branch or over the telephone, is to have the full 'benefits' explained - the travel insurance, the discount tickets, eating-out vouchers, etc. and that would have to include the fee being mentioned. If she's never used the account, unfortunately that doesn't give her the chance to opt out of paying the fees. When she received her first statement she would have also received an accompanying note telling her the service charge for the period wherein the account had been opened. She would have been informed of the overdraft situation within the first month of it occuring (or at least she should have). The overdraft rate is somewhat extortionate, however the fact she is now £500 overdrawn strikes me as very odd as it would have taken just under 10 months to reach that stage if she owned the Royalties Gold account (£12.95 p/m @ 29.84% AER) and so the bank will probably put up a fairly strong fight that she received her statements and it was her own duty to act upon the information they supplied. If she's using Digital Banking and has opted to work with paperless statements that, unfortunately, still won't help her any. I think your idea is a good one; write a letter - explain your dissatisfaction and ensure you keep a dated log (and a copy of the letter) for each and every piece of correspondence you send and receive. I would also advise that you look outwith the bank for assistance - I'm positive there will be a financial authority that will drag the RBS over the coals if they have failed to mention the monthly fee, however it is her word against theirs ... They will be able to explain the monthly fees, it's all their in their brochures and pamphlets and the only way you'll really be able to win this one is if you can pin the tail on the donkey of the branch advisor who opened the account and (possibly) failed to mention a key point of the terms and conditions. One of the points however, is the fact that with a Royalties Gold account an interest-free overdraft should be put in place by default. Perhaps ask them why that was never placed on the account? Her limited options are; Mis-sold the product. T&Cs not fully explained. Information relating to the account not issued fast enough. No interest-free overdraft applied to account. Hope this has been of help.