Referral Charges... what are they??

[a bit peeved]

I have been with Natwest for about a year, and no problems up to about a month ago. Every week we made a payment by cheque that hit our account on the Friday or Saturday, since hubby gets paid on a Friday this has never been a problem, been doing it for about six months and never any problems in past.

 

However about a month ago the cheque cleared on the Thursday instead!! Of course we were not expecting this and by the looks of my account it seemed that they had honoured the cheque, because it had taken us over the overdraft limit. I expected no charge being made because the account would be credited the following morning with his wages, and I was told that if the account is credited within 24 hours they do not charge... however, they decided a few days later that they were not going to pay the cheque and referred it back to the company and promptly charged us £38 (bearing in mind the cheque was only for £40.80).

 

I spoke to our branch manager and he apologised and told me that we when we get the charge letter I had to phone him back and he would refund the charge, he also told me that even though when I deposit a cheque it takes 5 days or more to clear, if I write one it can take as little as 2 days and up to 6 months to clear!!!!!! Anyway the charges were refunded back onto the account and I thought that was the last of it. Everything has been fine since then, until now.

 

This morning I have checked my account online and found that two days ago I was charged a referral charge of £30. I rang the action line and the lady told me that they charge for a cheque being referred back to the company, I informed her that I had already been charged £38 and this was refunded, and she informed me that this was in addition to the previous charge!! I have had no notification of the charge and was told that there is nothing I can do about it and the charge will stand. I don't understand how they can get away with this. She told me that it was because we went over our arranged overdraft. I told her that we had not, because the cheque was not payed at that point, and was represented the following week (which I made sure I left enough money for) I now pay the company cash because of this one incident!

 

Sorry if I have gone on a bit!!

[BankFodder]

All bank customers with problems become the cash cows of the baniing industry.

How do the banks get away with it?

Most people trust the banks and assume that the charges are lawful and reasonabe.

The rest don't want to lose their accounts or risk their overdrafts being closed down.

The rest want to lives their lives without this kind of hassle and so put up and shut up.

The other 6000 come here.

[mrwibble]

The referral charge is in addition to the over-limit fee - its a pity I've just found this site as I had quite a few charges 7 - 8 years ago and since then I've been borrowing and begging money to cover the occasional overdraft to avoid these charges - grrrrrr

 

 

586rJKEE4

[cheddar]

I found this on Natwests website.

 

 

Unarranged Borrowing*

If you exceed your arranged overdraft facility, or if you go overdrawn without prior arrangement: this is in addition to interest payable as detailed Unarranged borrowing details of the dates these fees are applied on can be found in our leaflet 'A guide to Personal Current Account fees and interest' £28

 

Unauthorised transaction - Unpaid

If you go overdrawn beyond your agreed overdraft amount, we may return your cheques unpaid, or be unable to pay a Standing Order or Direct Debit Unpaid fees are applied at the time the transaction is not paid or taken from your account £38 per item

 

Unauthorised transactions - Card misuse

If you use your NatWest Servicecard or Cashcard when there are insufficient funds in your account Card misuse fees are applied at the time the transaction is paid or taken from your account £35 per item

 

Paid referral

Any items we choose to pay, which result in an unarranged overdraft Paid referral fees are applied on the sixth business day of the month after the transactions took place £30 (max £90 in a calendar month)

 

Default notice

If you break your agreement with us and we have cause to issue a Default Notice to you requiring you to either repay the debt or remedy breach of agreement, we will charge you £30 for our administrative costs in issuing the Default Notice Default Notice fees are applied at the time each Default Notice is issued £30

[a bit peeved]

Thanks for the info cheddar, I too found that on the Natwest website, and I pointed out to the bank manager that a paid referral gets charged if they choose to pay an item which results in an unarranged overdraft, however, they never paid the item, they refused the cheque and it was represented to the bank the following week. I argued that they were therefore charging me for a service that I never received, thankfully he agreed and the charge has been reversed and will be credited back to my account over the weekend, he did however point out that they were doing this as a gesture of goodwill only!!!!!

 

Anyway problem solved and thanks for all your help.

[a bit peeved]

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