Success (I think!!)

[Kev]

I did try to post before but theres no sign of it. I'll try again.

Just before Christmas I was unfortunate enough to have a cheque bounced twice by Natwest at a total cost of £76 which was removed from my account immediatley with out even notifying me. This put me overdrawn for which I incurred a further charge of £28. Two further charges of £35 for card misuse followed plus an unpaid direct debit charge of £38. strangely enough Natwest paid a direct debit the next day to Natwest loans and charged me a £60 referral fee. A total of £272.

At no time did Natwest contact me, I only found out that the cheque had bounced when the person I gave the cheque to contacted me because they had a letter from their bank. when I went to my local Natwest branch I was informed that I must cancel all direct debits or I would incur further charges. an increase in my overdraft facility was refused but it was noticed that my loan with natwest only had one more payment "perhaps I'd like another loan to cover these charges and maybe pay off a credit card", I declined their offer.

I wrote a letter to Natwest Head office, ( actually I used the letter From The Govern Law Centre, to whom I'm eternally grateful) requesting a full refund or I would start legal proceedings. Seven days later I recieved the reply in a very long winded letter which didn't actually answer any points I'd raised. I was offered a 50% refund as a gesture of good will as long as I accepted that I would have to pay all charges in future! They also insisted that all further correspondence must include my day time telephone number.

In my reply to Natwest I pointed out that they had not addressed the legality of the penalty and unfair charges applied to my account within the ambit of regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts regulations 1999. Also I had been further advised that I could claim all charges from when the account opened until the present time, I asked for an exhaustive list of all fees that had been charged for the past 4 years, quoting the data protection act. I refused their gesture of goodwill as I felt the imposed conditions where unlawful in the context of the consumer contracts regulations. Also the 50% refund was unacceptable. I stated that I would start legal proceedings to recover £272+interest+costs. I also requested that no further charges be taken from my account until the court judgment was made. To finish off I pointed out that "I am not prepared to discuss this case over the telephone. All communication between myself and Natwest bank and their representatives will be carried out in writing".

Three days later I recieved a short reply "Thank you for your letter dated 30th January, the contents of which are duly noted. After further consideration I have arranged for a full refund of £272 which has credited the account today. I trust the letter now resolves your concern, however, should you remain dissatisfied, referral to the Financial Ombudsman is still an option available to you".

If Natwest do not send me full details of all charges applied to my acccount over the past 4 years (within the next 40 days) I will be referring my case not to the Financial Ombudsman but to the Data protection Comissioner.

Thanks for all the info on this site, it's been a great help.

[BankFodder]

Well done on gettng the money back. For the benefit of others who read this - and not to patronise you - I'd say that you seem to handled absolutely correctly. Quickly, aggressively and taking control. You didn't tolerate any flannel and yo set the pace.

 

This kind of approach is really important.

 

I don't understand the bais n which you say that you will complain to the Information Commisioner. I'm not particularly familiar with the DPA and it possiblities. Are you able to compalin without first having attempted to inspect the data they hld on you? And I don't see that the way they conducted your account has much to do withthe Informatio Commissioner at this point.

 

I know that you have a life to live but have you conisdered going to the Ombudsman about the breahes of the Code so far?

I dounds as if you have already written most of the issues down very well. You would only need to make a formal complaint to the bank, dmand a compensatory payment of, say, £100 and then send all of your paperwork off to the Ombudsman when the bank refused and sent you their "final response".

[Kev]

Thanks for your comments. I must admit I was surprised that the bank caved in so easily, I think that is more to do with pressure being applied from all the other customers who are complaining and groups (like The Bank Action Group) who help to publicise the disgusting way in which banks are behaving.

 

To answer your question:- In my last letter to the bank I requested an exhaustive list of all fees and charges that Natwest had charged to my account over the past 4 years. I stated that I was entitled to this information under section 7 (1) of The Data Protection act 1998. If natwest fails to comply with my request I can make a complaint to the Information Comissioner asking for a "notice of enforcement" to be served on the Data protection officer employed by Natwest. Failure to comply with this notice is a criminal offence.

 

The banking code has not been broken by Natwest. I have read through the code hoping to find something I could use against the bank but this code is too vague and not worth the paper it's written on.

 

I have succeeded in getting £272 refunded but that is only the fees for one month. I now intend to claim all penalty charges for the previous 4 years. To do this I need Natwest to send me the information I requested.

 

Taking my complaint to the banking ombudsman could be a viable option later on but I would still prefer to use the county court route before I take my case to the ombudsman.

[Kev]

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