Thanks, T4FF, I am dealing with a CRM at the bank at the moment and there are no legal proceedings in the pipeline at present. She appears reasonable so I am hoping for an acknowledgement of the error of their ways in regard to my brother's account and the repayment of the money to my mother. My brother hated that bank with a vengeance and always vowed he would "get his revenge" one day. Sadly, that was never to be but maybe I can carry on the fight for him. I'll keep you posted on the developments.

Thanks for your reply, I know what you are saying but my point is that people generally don't check their account balance every time they use their card and don't always know how much they have in their account. The banks know this, so allow you to spend more than you have in your account (or go over your "overdraft" limit) then charge you for "misuse of card". I did not claim the bank "forced" my brother to spend more than he had. As a comparison, my bank account here in Australia simply says "insufficient funds" if I try to withdraw or use EFTPOS for an amount over my account balance. They don't let my account go in the red then charge me for being a naughty boy. It's a big [problem], and the banks have been caught with their hands in the till and are now paying the price.

Mr Bump Thanks for the reply and the kind thoughts. I am also doubtful if anything can be done at this stage. I did get a predictable reply from the RBS, stating that they were unable to investigate my claim as I had not supplied an account number. It was true, but also obvious it was a standard brush-off technique. I have made a more forceful claim now armed with information I gleaned from this site. Whatever happens, exposing the RBS for what they are in a public forum provides some level of satisfaction. Reading the successes others have had in defeating these scumbags in suits is also a soul-cleansing experience. Regards, Sam.

I wrote the following before discovering via this site that people other than my brother had suffered unjustly at the hands of the RBS. The question I would like answered now is: Is there any chance of recovering this money from the bank given that I live in Australia and my mother is not capable of dealing with something like this? Any help would be appreciated. I feel very bitter towards these people as you can tell from the following:- ------------------------ Around December 2004 my late twin brother was unemployed, living basically from hand to mouth and as a sole parent, looking after his two sons in a council flat in Coupar Angus, Scotland. Unknown to him, his RBS bank account had gone into debit although he had not asked for an overdraft facility and most certainly would not have wanted one. The amount was a paltry £35. However, being unaware of this, he continued to use his Switchcard to buy groceries but every time he used it the bank charged him £60, even if he only spent £5. Before he was even aware what the bank was doing, he owed them £277. Quite rightly he refused to pay these outrageous charges, but the bank continued to charge him interest on the debit amount so that the debt grew so large that even had he wanted to pay, he would have been unable to do so. The bank continued to hound him, right up to the day he died. Not having the decency to deal with him in person, they set a debt collector on him to do their dirty work. In the end, while he lay on his deathbed, my mother found the letters from the debt collection agency and paid the debt for him. My mother is 80years old and lives on a pension but of course the bank doesn't care about that. The Royal Bank of Scotland should be ashamed of themselves. This is a deliberate policy of the bank to trap people into spending more money than they have then punishing them by charging exorbitant fees. My brother never asked for an overdraft and he would rather the Switchcard rejected the transaction when the amount exceeded his balance. The bank knows this but have no conscience about stealing money from the disadvantaged. The faceless fatcats who sat around the boardtable and put this repulsive policy in place are the **** of the earth. My brother was a decent human being which is more than can be said for the heartless bandits at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

I am writing this to make public the [alledged] devious and immoral actions of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Around December 2004 my late twin brother was unemployed, living basically from hand to mouth and as a sole parent, looking after his two sons in a council flat in Coupar Angus, Scotland. Unknown to him, his RBS bank account had gone into debit although he had not asked for an overdraft facility and most certainly would not have wanted one. The amount was a paltry £35. However, being unaware of this, he continued to use his Switchcard to buy groceries but every time he used it the bank charged him £60, even if he only spent £5. Before he was even aware what the bank was doing, he owed them £277. Quite rightly he refused to pay these outrageous charges, but the bank continued to charge him interest on the debit amount so that the debt grew so large that even had he wanted to pay, he would have been unable to do so. The bank continued to hound him, right up to the day he died. Not having the decency to deal with him in person, they set a debt collector on him to do their dirty work. In the end, while he lay on his deathbed, my mother found the letters from the debt collection agency and paid the debt for him. My mother is 80years old and lives on a pension but of course the bank doesn't care about that. The Royal Bank of Scotland should be ashamed of themselves. This is [alledgedly] a deliberate policy of the bank to trap people into spending more money than they have then punishing them by charging exorbitant fees. My brother never asked for an overdraft and he would rather the Switchcard rejected the transaction when the amount exceeded his balance. The bank knows this but have no conscience about [edit] taking money from the disadvantaged. [edited] My brother was a decent human being which is more than can be said for the [edit] at the Royal Bank of Scotland.