I apologise firstly if there is a thread already going concerning this issue, however I have not been able to find it. I have for the past few months, had several issues with my Bank, that being Nat West. I have been a business custoner with them since 2001, suffice to say that I have been less than impressed with them over the past 3 years. I own a small business that was funded by the SFGLAS scheme, and the bank set this up for me. I was given 18 months free banking, which was the norm, however I asked that when my free banking period was up, that I be advised of the best tariff to be put on. Now over the past 5 years or so, the average monthly charge has been £69 including the £6 account maintenace fee. I am charged for the following; Automated Debits (maestro card) 0.40 p per transaction Standing Orders 0.45p Cheques/Other debits 0.71p Manual Credits 0.76p Direct Debits 0.40 Having fallen out with my customer relationship manager over other issues, I insisted that I be able to bank more locally to me at a high street branch, where eventually i met the Branch Business Manager. Straight away i explained my concerns at how i believe the charges levied against me were wrong, at the flick of a button on the computer he changed my tariff to one as follows Account maintenance fee £3.75 per month Automated debits free Standing Orders free Cheques/Other debits 0.84p Manual Credits 0.84p Direct Debits free yes i have to pay a little more per cheque but i am now better off by roughly £50 per month. I questioned why i had not been put on this tariff years ago, he even stated that this tariff had been around for a number of years and in his own words "Somebody has ripped you off". He even went as far as saying that Nat West had a duty to customers to offer the best tariff for the customers and not one that suits themselves. I am now wanting to claim back the monies that have been in my opinion unlawfully taken every month. Even the new Business manager stated that i would be within my rights as I had in fact not been informed of this tariff. Can anybody help me to find a suitable template or if there is a thread on these forums that i can view. I honestly believe that Nat West have treated me like a fool and have stolen money from me.

Good Morning all, on this wonderful summers day.....at last. Just an update to my saga with the lovely HFC/HSBC/.....whoever they may be. As I am in a totally different position in respect of being unable to claim bank charges, the latest news is this. I received a personal response from the Chairman of HSBC stating that he had forwarded all my correspondence to the internal complaints department. Funnily enough I had a phone call from the complaints department the same day and they did not have any records of my account available as they had been "filed" on a old computer system and could not access the details on the new system. However, a few days later they sent me a letter stating that they were sorry to see i remained "dissatisfied" with HFC. Again they admit they were at fault as they did not remove the "adverse" information from my credit file as and when they were asked to. They are still more than happy to recompense me for any monetary loss I have suffered and they will require written evidence. However as a gesture of goodwill they said....quote...."we would like to offer you £250 in recompense of the adverse information not being removed from your credit file". Along with this came a form for me to sign accepting the offer.....suffice to say that i have played noughts and crosses on said paperwork. I spoke with the Financial Ombudsman Service, they advised me not to sign and to send any relevant paperwork to them, the chappie I spoke with was very very helpful. Its now in the hands of the FOS. I have stated my concerns regarding HFC's duty of care to their customers, all said copies of documentation and look forward to what the FOS find. In all honesty I felt rather good after my chat with FOS and reading between the lines, the case worker has told me that HFC have totally ignored the Data Protection Act and regulations governed by the FSA. What gets to me is the way HFC admit fault in the way they have treated me, they admit full liability in treating me wrongly, unfairly and with predjudice, but offer me £250 as a gesture of goodwill. I wait with baited breath to see the next episode of this saga, perhaps HFC should start to care more about their customers and ex customers.

Had a phone call from them yesterday and they offered me £250 compensation......they hadnt looked at the fact they unlawfully defaulted me and the record was unlawfully on my credit files for 11 months.....not to mention that they still had the nerve to add charges because of their appliance of the default which they had not taken into account.

wouldnt know what to say personally lilynz, there are people on here with better experience than I am able to offer....who did you e mail over in UK?

Toony, I agree with you for the cost of a letter and a phone call its worth it. I heard from a friend that the VOA website was available to look at so I checked it out. Was sure that my council tax was far too high compared to my next door neighbours who lived in exactly the same type of house. I went on the VOA website, saw the banding I was in and appealed against it. Result.......£1700 refund from the council after my band was dropped down. It was the easiest thing to do by getting rebanded....the staff at VOA didnt even argue with the query. They obviously admitted I had been charged too much so its worth looking in to

Right, my letter has been posted to HFC, its been faxed, and its been e mailed...i couldnt find a pigeon to fly a copy there so I hope they receive one of them

Morning Scooby, are you awake I have written out the letter, shall i send through message to you?

Thanks scooby, yes they did delete the whole entry, and thats what caused the problems, as the lady from equifax said, i would not get credit because i had no credit files to show my worthiness.....I shall begin to construct the letter and will e mail you the letter when complete, once again, many thanks for your help scooby,

Hi Scooby, may I thank you sincerely for taking the time to read through and reply to my enquiry. I have been mulling over this for a few years now, and to be honest I thought I would be fighting a lost cause. Having spoke to the bank back in December/January 2005 I was just happy to get the default removed, but in hindsight if I had known the problems that it would cause, I dont think I would have been fobbed off by the bank. It was actually Hamilton Direct who I had the loan from, I believe they were taken over by HFC or HSBC. The letter you refer to is still in my posession. This was sent by the litigation department Birmingha,, it reads Dear....... As per our telephone conversation today, I have reviewed your account and can see that you have made payments on a regular basis in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement you signed. It appears the situation was not helped when your direct debit mandate was cancelled when you moved address(??????????) and agree this was an error made by HFC Bank LTD and you, therefore should not have had a default notice registered against you. We did request your default be removed in June 2004 but it appears that this was not updated and in view of this, we have made a business decision to delete the entry from your credit file. Should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contcat me on............ ............. Litigation Officer I also have three other letters i sent the litigation department with all the names of the people I spoke with, having just gone through the archives on my computer, so these letters back up to the point the hassles and even the mental state i was in when writing them. I even make mention to a conversation I had with a lady from Equifax who told me that because my credit file hade been deleted, even though the default had been removed it had made we un credit worthy. I spoke to litigation yesterday and gave them my account number to see where i could get copies of all my dealings with Hamilton/HFC but was told I had to send off £10 for a sar??? as the litigagtion Department could not access my old account details. If there is hope for compensation, dont get me wrong I am not looking to be a freeloader, but as you say and i have seen first hand, its the problems I have had when trying to obtain credit over the past few years.... Sccoby, once again you are a legend for responding. I would appreciate your input on the wording of the complaint and the way to go forward. If you dont mind that is.... Regards

just thought, as the yadmitted fault, surely any charges they added to my account for the admin fees and late payment interest are owed to me...

Hi there wondering if anyone out there can help me at all? I had a loan with a HFC, only a small £2000 loan over 2 years my first ever to be truthful. I have never wanted a credit card, always had my bills paid on time so i thought i was quite good with my money. I changed bank accounts, set up a new direct debit mandate with the HFC who loaned me the money. 4 weeks later, i had a phone call from the bank asking to pay my months repayment as they had not received the mandate. This I did by way of switch card, asking them to set up a direct debit over the phone. They said no problems and took my bank details. 2 months later the bank sends me a letter stating that I must pay two months repayment as the money had not gone through the direct debit i had set up with them over the phone. To say I was miffed could be classed as an understatement. So i rang them up again, paid 2 months of repayment over the phone, asking them to set up the direct debit again, explaining that i had done this twice already. They even had a record of the telephone conversations. 3 months later, i receive a letter saying they had defaulted me.....I was fed up at this stage. After getting on to the bank in 2004 and explaining to their litigation department, they sent me a letter admitting liability, quoting " This was an error made on behalf of HFC bank, and you therefore should not have had a default notice registered against you.". I Thought great its done with now they are sorting this out. This was in June 2004. In december 2004 I applied for a hire purchase agreement on a £6000 piece of equipment, which i was refused as on my credit file it showed I had defaulted. I explained on appeal that this default was wrongly entered and immediately contacted the bank who had defaulted me. In january 2005 the bank again apologised and informed me "We did request your default be removed in June 2004, but it appears this was not updated and in view of this we have made a business decision to delete the entry from your credit file"....the only thing is my credit score went from exceptional to very poor and i have been spending the past 3 years trying to build up my credit worthiness. I am loathed to apply for any loans now as my credit rating is still classed as poor to fair. Are the bank in question responsible? Can i or should i take legal action against them....can anyone help...i think they have a duty to at least make good what they have created

where do i start it?

Thanks Aphrodite, I am reading one of the letters now, and it has the names and the admission of fault. I would never throw them away. Interestingly enough after they eventually wiped out my credit file, i applied to them again for a loan of £8000, and was promptly refused due to being poor creditworthiness. It just makes me sick that they could ruin my life yet still not offer me any compensation.....i would love to take them to court for the harassment and distress it has caused.....perhaps i have no chance but i wonder how many other people have been affected by a similar situation

The practical problems and the distress have been immense. Its amazing how much its affected my business life over the past three years. I had a loan with a bank, only a small £2000 loan over 2 years my first ever to be truthful. I have never wanted a credit card, always had my bills paid on time so i thought i was quite good with my money. I changed bank accounts, set up a new direct debit mandate with the bank who loaned me the money. 4 weeks later, i had a phone call from the bank asking to pay my months repayment as they had not received the mandate. This I did by way of switch card, asking them to set up a direct debit over the phone. They said no problems and took my bank details. 2 months later the bank sends me a letter stating that I must pay two months repayment as the money had not gone through the direct debit i had set up with them over the phone. To say I was miffed could be classed as an understatement. So i rang them up again, paid 2 months of repayment over the phone, asking them to set up the direct debit again, explaining that i had done this twice already. They even had a record of the telephone conversations. 3 months later, i receive a letter saying they had defaulted me.....I was fed up at this stage. After getting on to the bank in 2004 and explaining to their litigation department, they sent me a letter admitting liability, quoting " This was an error made on behalf of *** bank, and you therefore should not have had a default notice registered against you.". I Thought great its done with now they are sorting this out. This was in June 2004. In december 2004 I applied for a hire purchase agreement on a £6000 piece of equipment, which i was refused as on my credit file it showed I had defaulted. I explained on appeal that this default was wrongly entered and immediately contacted the bank who had defaulted me. In january 2005 the bank again apologised and informed me "We did request your default be removed in June 2004, but it appears this was not updated and in view of this we have made a business decision to delete the entry from your credit file"....the only thing is my credit score went from exceptional to very poor and i have been spending the past 3 years trying to build up my credit worthiness. I am loathed to apply for any loans now as my credit rating is still classed as poor to fair. Are the bank in question responsible? Can i or should i take legal action against them....can anyone help

Agreed Aphrodite, seems that a lot of people have benefited from this site and reclaimed what is rightfully theirs