Hi all, Today i have been made an improved offer of £200 by NatWest. To be perfectly honest i am at the end of my teather with all of this and i am tempted to take the money - rather than spend the next 3 months waiting for the FOS to do anything about it. :-| In total the whole situation has probably cost me around £2000 including expenses and additional interest. I am wondering what the best option is, and whether i am likely to get any more compensation through the FOS or by taking further action. Thanks again in advance.

Just another quick update. .. After returning last weeks calls (several times) i finally got a response today - only after threatening FOS action and writing to the head office. They have asked me for an amount i would like - i have said £1000. They should have an answer to me within 48 hours they say. However much they come back with i think i will hold out for the full £1000, as an FOS enquiry will cost them £450 plus the additional compensation they will have to pay me - am i correct in thinking this?

Update... I am now close to completing my letter to the Customer Relations Unit, this will done by tomorrow (theres lots to include!) however today i received a call from the branch manager. In fact he called twice but i missed both calls (unusual as he never returned any of my calls before let alone 2 in a day!). He left messages basically saying he had received new info regarding my compo claim. He didnt say exactly what but it sounds as if they have re-considered their offer since my rejection of their original decision. I am going to call them tomorrow but i am not sure what to negotiate, i am wondering what the likelyhood is of me getting back the extra interest i have had to pay. The total extra interest incurred is approx 1.5K, what do you think would be a realistic offer to accept? I personally think i should receive the full amount as i took the loan out in good faith... what are your thoughts?? Hyperlogic

Sorry about that, wrong account All contact has been verbal and i don't have a reference number. For all i know this could have been decided in branch. Thanks for your advice, i will contact the customer relations unit. Do you know if there is a maximum time in which they have to reply, or should i stipulate this in my letter?

Hello everyone Just looking for a bit of advise if anyone can help. I took out a graduate loan last year with natwest at a rate of roughly 8% but towards the end of the year i was a bit short on funds so i asked to borrow a bit extra on top of my loan. It was agreed, however i had to be put on to a personal loan rate (17%) and i was promised after 3 months i could re-apply and be put back onto a graduate rate (for what reason i do not know)!? Stupidly i didnt ask for this in writing and, you guessed it 3 months later i went to the bank and it was a no go. In fact it has been for 12 months now and including interest i have an extra 2.5K on my loan balance than i would of had, whilst borrowing only an extra 1k. After being told i need to wait 'another 3 months' 2 or 3 times since, i started to push to get my loan put back onto a graduate rate. I filed a list of complaints personally with the branch manager and found out the member of staff who processed the change over had been sacked. This was 3 months ago. I have been into the bank on numerous occasions since, and phoned easily 5 times a day to try and liase with the branch manager who was attempting to get me some compensation. It has been extremely stressful as you can imagine - phone calls being ignored and no reply when i left a message. The receptionist would just say 'all i can do is leave another message' and 'i dont know what to say'!! To me it sounded like i was being fobbed off all of the time. To go to the bank requires time off work, petrol, parking - it all adds up. Finally they came back to me earlier this week with a ridiculous offer of £100 compensation - hardly a days work! This amount doesn't even cover the cost of my visits, let alone the extra money i now owe due to their false promises! This decision took 3months, and they granted me the lowest possible amount that the branch manager had suggested to 'the board'. I don't understand why it took so long!? Anyway, after a bit of digging around i (well, the better half ) noticed they had broken the banking code, section 15. A desicion should have been made in 8 weeks - i had been given no complaint reference number and didn't receive a single letter over the period. I am now going to write to head office, and the branch manager listing all my complaints (there are many other issues i have had nevertheless, but i won't bore you with those), forwarding a copy to the FSA - is this the best action to take, and do you think i have a good case? Many thanks, hyperlogic