Natwest closed my account... and didn't tell me!

[chinbo99]

Hi there,

 

Hopefully someone can give me some advice on this. Today was supposed to be my payday. I say supposed to be as unknown to me, Natwest have closed my account 10 days ago and have decided not to let me know of this fact!!!

 

Anyway, the history behind it is this. I have two basic accounts with them, one I have kept fine, the other that was overdrawn by £100, every single penny of which was bank charges. Last November I put a claim in for about £450 of charges on the overdrawn account, I was obviously told that about the claims being stayed and the claim had been recorded but no further action would be taken at present blah blah blah. I have therefore refused to pay back the charges on this account until the case has been resolved. My other account has been run flawlessly throughout this period.

 

I knew I had little money in the good account so have not used or looked at it for the past couple of weeks, as I had already paid all my bills from last month. So on Sat 1st Nov, I tried to access my account online, with no luck. I rang Natwest and they tell me that they could not access my account either, but that it had not been closed, and to ring back another time. So I ring back monday this week, and I get the same response. I query about my wages going in this Friday (approx £2000!) and they say there will be no problem. So today I try to access my account with my cash card, no can do apparently. I try online and still no luck. Obviously getting pretty worried now, I ring them again. After about an hour of 'heated' debate, I am told by customer care that my account was closed on 27th October and they can tell me nothing more. So what about my wages I say. The payment will have been returned to your employer they say. Cue much swearing and losing temper.

 

Basically I have no money at present and was heavily relying on this money to survive ie I have hardly any food at home, the car is running low on fuel and my home phone line has already been suspended as I have not paid this month and cannot now do so.

 

My employer have a centralised HR department so as much as my query to them about getting paid my wages another way is urgent, I will be lucky to get a response before monday. I am effectively screwed because Natwest have failed to inform me of there actions. No letters, no phone calls, nothing.

 

I really need to know what I can do about this. Surely it is not allowed, and what are my options to get back at them. To say I am livid at this point in time is a serious understatement. Is there anyone I can contact about this, it is surely a breach of some contract or regulations to leave me in this situation without telling me. I know nothing about the laws involved with this but surely they cannot shut all my account due to £100 of bank charges and not tell me, given that I would have paid the money from my wages if I'd known that were going to do this.

 

Someone please help, I am in utter dispair and do not know where to turn.

 

Oh yes, one last thing, I am waiting on Natwest getting back to me about what has happened, but I doubt that will be til next week at the earliest!

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Chinbo99

[Sneaker]

Hi,

 

No help here, but I can only sympathise. Natwest closed my loan account too without telling me by taking money from an account with no funds in it, sending me overdrawn and creating charges.

 

In your case I think they might be using some offset clause. You need to read through your ts&cs to find why they might have done what they did.

 

You may then be able to fight that "unfair" clause.

 

Good luck and I hope someone is of more help, and I hope you get your money back soon.

[sea-sidelady]

Have a read of this link.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/106950-what-do-if-your.html

[chinbo99]

Have a read of this link.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/106950-what-do-if-your.html

 

Thats pretty helpful, thanks for that.

 

So it looks like they'll be in trouble when I complain about this. I had no notice of the closure whatsoever, so I'm pretty sure thats not "reasonable time to arrange an alternative"!

 

Just as an update, Natwest still don't know what has happened with my account. They told me my wages would be returned to my employer but I have it confirmed from my employer today that they have not received the money, and as far as they can see, Natwest still have my wages somewhere.

 

So I'm off to the bank tomorrow to hopefully get some answers. I'll be using some of the info in that link as ammo!

[chinbo99]

Hi,

 

No help here, but I can only sympathise. NatWest closed my loan account too without telling me by taking money from an account with no funds in it, sending me overdrawn and creating charges.

 

In your case I think they might be using some offset clause. You need to read through your ts&cs to find why they might have done what they did.

 

You may then be able to fight that "unfair" clause.

 

Good luck and I hope someone is of more help, and I hope you get your money back soon.

 

And also thanks for your sympathies Sneaker, in someways its comforting to know that I'm not the only one. In times when so many people are living from month to month, not getting your wages on time can really be damaging, as its starting to be in this case! I can't believe they think they can do this without hearing something from it.

 

Thanks again, and good luck with your problems (unless you've sorted them already of course?!)

[Guest Menucha]

Subbing - because the same thing happened to OH this morning when I tried to log in.

Waiting with interest to see how you get on

[johnny28]

Really sorry to but in on this thread, but I am very new to this site and I have the same problem and would like to start a new post, Can someone tell me how to do this please.

 

Johnny

[Trilby274]

Go back to the main NatWest page (the one you accessed this thread from). Near the top of the page is a button 'new thread'. Click on that and away you go