Urgent help needed Natwest has closed my accounts please help

[bs0lth]

Hi All,

 

Im hoping that somebody out there might be able to help me out here.

 

Where do I start... this is a living nightmare. I will try with to be as short as I can but I will appolgise in advance cos this is going to take a while.

 

I will start with the personal stuff then work through the rest. In December last year, I started to get really bad back pain, doctor sent me for tests and I have athritis in my spine.. not a lot I can do, take pain killers, do excercise and keep moving. All sounds good but I was wiped out, I couldnt even get up and down stairs. Not sleeping, and its been hell... The back pain clinic has got me mobile(ish) again so at least I can move round. On top of this I am bipolar. That is fun to live with. But live with it I do and have for many years. The back pain brough on an "episode" of depression that I couldnt deal with and back to see my consultant every 2 weeks. One of my problems is opening letters and actually talking to people... I hide.. I know Im doing it but its not a good place to be in. Im coping with this at the moment because my meds have been doubled and well... Im getting through stuff. Both of these conditions together meant my doctor signed me off sick ... told me to go work on things and go back to work when I was better... which is not really what I wanted to hear as Im self employed. But how your supposed to work when you cant walk, sit, stand or even get to the kettle is beyond me. So in Jan this year I finally submitted that I needed time to get my body working again and signed on the sick. Im currently in reciept of ESA benefit (the new Invalididty benefit) at the higher level. Im in the middle of being assessed for disability living allowance, and from the last letter it looks like Im actually going to get it. Im sorry if all of this is coming over flippant.. but this is the only way I can deal with things.

 

I became self employed because I lost my full time job and rather than sit around I started to sell things on ebay and through a website I made... things went better than expected and I was making as much as I was working full time for somebody else... until I couldnt do it.

 

Ok so the bank problem.

 

I have 2 accounts with the natwest. I claimed for my charges back and well they were stayed the same as everyone else. However, my problems started in December when I couldnt move. I actually had less money going in than my outgoings. my overdraft was at £1200. yes I know it was a lot but it was leftover from earlier days. Anyway, I ended up with over £600 worth of charges on the account in december. which is a hell of a lot of money and I really couldnt clear them. so i left it carried on as normal and the charges they pushed me over my over draft limit. and they have continued to go on and on and on.. its now standing at £1900 at least £1200 of that is charges... anyway... I have sort of ignored it hoping that the test case would actually get sorted, and then I would pay off the over draft with money to spare... Im claiming over £3k. So a couple of weeks ago I recieved a default letter from them saying pay up or else. i talked to them and said that I would pay off some of the amount and they could transfer £10 a month into the account from my second account to show that I was making an effort to pay off the balance. i was told that this was not good enough and that somebody would be in touch.

 

So I havent really thought about it. hiding under the duvet again. until tonight. My second account was in credit by £500 it was because all of my benefits went in yesterday. Anyway, to cut a long story short, i went to pay for something and was told that my card had been declined... ok so it was for £7.50 I argued with the shop told them to do it again and declined again. So I said ok I will be back in a little while, and went home and phoned the bank to ask why the transaction was declined because there should have been £500 in the account.

 

I was told that my account had been closed today, that the balance was paid off my other account and that they couldnt say anything else because the department I need to talk to was closed for then night.

 

So my thing is...

 

I now have no accounts, no money at all, and have no idea what to do next.

 

Can anyone help give me an idea of what to say or if they are allowed to do this. I havent had any notification that this account would be closed.

 

Anyway thanks for reading this epic of a post, I would appreciate it if somebody could help.

 

lynne:confused:

[bs0lth]

bump

[yourbank]

The answer is yes they are allowed to do this because they can use the Right of set off which means they can use money from one account to pay the other off.

First piece of advice is to open up an account with another bank, just a basic account so NatWest cannot take your benefits. Make sure you make the benefits office aware of the change of account details as well.

Secondly call them up and tell them you want your benefit money as you have no money to eat or pay bills or speak to the CAB who may be able to do that as well for you, ie contacting the bank.

 

Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?

[bs0lth]

Hiya, thanks for your reply, I have been reading most of the night, and thought as much. Yes i have mortgage arrears, the money that was in there was to pay my mortgage which is due in three days time. I have some cash but it was there for a reason. I dont know if Im going to get it all back, but all of it that goes in there is benifits so I dont know if they can keep it all.

 

Im hacked off, I have had nothing at all from them to say they were going to close this account, it was after I had a payment declined and phoned themto ask why, knowing there was money in the account that they said they had closed it.

 

Im off to find another bank tomorrow, but with the state of my credit at the moment Im not holding out any hope.

 

Is there anything at all i can do?

[bs0lth]

What I love, is that they did this the day after everything was paid into it... its as if they knew

[bs0lth]

bunp

[bs0lth]

An update...

 

after spending an hour and a half on the phone, and told that one of my accounts was still active, that the money taken out the good account had been transfered back into it and that a new card was on its way, I was put through to a different department to be told that everything that had been discussed was to be honest a load of rubbish and the guy on the other end of the phone did not have the authority to do such a thing. the money transfer had been declined and I was told to go find another bank account....

 

Why on earth, can one department tell you one thing and then the other tell you that its not the case... shouldnt everyone be working off the same page...

 

Anyway Im off to try to find another account, even a basic one is going to be better than nothing at all. I will let you know whats happening... .as it happens.

[yourbank]

An update...

 

after spending an hour and a half on the phone, and told that one of my accounts was still active, that the money taken out the good account had been transfered back into it and that a new card was on its way, I was put through to a different department to be told that everything that had been discussed was to be honest a load of rubbish and the guy on the other end of the phone did not have the authority to do such a thing. the money transfer had been declined and I was told to go find another bank account....

 

Why on earth, can one department tell you one thing and then the other tell you that its not the case... shouldnt everyone be working off the same page...

 

Anyway Im off to try to find another account, even a basic one is going to be better than nothing at all. I will let you know whats happening... .as it happens.

 

If you still have internet access then printout as much statements as you can and start the process of reclaiming money and ask that they look at your claim under financial hardship rules.

[bs0lth]

Hiya firstly can I just say.. thanks for your help and heres whats been going on.. another epic of a tale...

 

Ok... Well to things went from bad to worse... I recorded the call from the bank... cos the nice little man that dealt with me over the phone decided that every single thing he said and did was the biggest load of tosh you ever heard.

 

so first thing I did was hot footed it to the co-op bank... and I think I have opened a current account and a basic account... both have been approved in theory... but they dont know yet which one I will get so to stop me wasting more time they applied for both... they said I will have one or the other by friday.. I dont care to be honest at this stage I just need money to be able to be paid in somewhere...

 

So that done... I hot footed it to the Nat West. Two departments on the phone said that the money would be available to take out, that is the amount the account was in credit.. so I thought at least Im going to get it back. Well, I got to the bank... the assistant looked at me.. looked at his machine... looked at me and said ... sorry you cant have anything your account is in the process of being closed. Ran through what was said over the phone (Lying barstools) and said that here I am... with the card I no longer want, my proof of identification... give me the money...

 

He went off.. brought his supervisor over... she looked at me looked at the screen and said sorry you cant have that all you have available on that account is the amount of the overdraft... I was speachless at this point,I couldnt believe what I was hearing.. however, I downloaded the letter of appropriation from the site, put in my details and well produced it .. for them to look at and asked me to explain what it was... I explained and she looked at me again, then the letter and then ...

 

 

Off she want to get somebody else, that looked at me then looked at the computer looked at the bit of paper and looked at me again... can you see a pattern emerging?

 

Anyway they said.. nothing at all will allow us to give you that money, the balance was transfered out again about an hour ago you have nothing in there.. go and see the customer service desk and they will ring up the credit department....

 

Now the best bit is great, Ive been here before in that branch... they put you on the phone and you get no use out of them... and then at 5pm on the dot they hang up and tell you to get out of the branch... yes its true.. my mum was horrified when this happened.

 

So the customer service lady looked at me then the bit of paper I had handed her with the phone number on and then looked at me... and said ... there is a phone here you can use on the customer service desk in the middle of the bank. I asked for a private room and she said.. im sorry but that is for customers...

 

What the hell was I until 24 hrs ago...

 

Anyway, i said ok.. I have 35 mins to sort this out to my satisfation... and if its not Im not leaving at 5pm... your going to have to call the police to remove me. Also, I will use the telephone in the middle of the bank, but i warn you I am going to loose my temper, and I am going to shout at the idiot on the other end of the phone. so could I please have a private room. She then turned round to me and said, but I cant leave you in a room by yourself... "oh why?" says I ... frightened Im going to top myself in your little room and give you some mess to clear up... so got my way.

 

Anyway, the credit control dept, said no way could I have the money. I went through everything that had gone on, I told then that I had a letter of appropriation that I was handing into the branch to get the benefits that were paid into the account on Monday and it was my right since the money was going to cover my priority debts.

 

At this point they back tracked said they would sort it out... could I go back into the branch tomorrow... Ha no way I said am I leaving this, Ive been onthe phone 6 times now today and it gets sorted, otherwise the branch is going to have me camped out in it until tomorrow.

 

The woman on the phone, then went to talk to her boss or somebody else or even just went to make a cup of tea while I sat and stewed... The lady that was babysitting me in the room couldnt believe what was said and then left me alone..

 

10 mins later, I was told the money is available for you to draw out. Result.

 

The lady who sat in on most of the conversation then printed out me a copy of what was on screen so I had it to prove what was going on incase they all changed their minds again... but also so that It showed a £0.00 balance when I was in, and to show that if any charges were levied against the account then they wouldnt have a leg to stand on. (I know there were no outstanding payments due on that account everything has gone through)

 

Anyway to cut yet another novel of a post short. I walked out of the branch with £416.98 and felt a small victory.

 

Now the other stuff, I all ready have a claim in, for the excess charges, Im going to have to add in the £1600 of charges that have appeared on the acount since january..

 

I cant get onto the internet banking site, however, I do have all of my bank statements, I need to keep them for tax reasons... so no problems going back through them and reissuing a higher demand for payment or even yet another one.

 

Im reading through everything I can on the hardship cases, but its doesnt look like it will go through but I can do nothing but try..

 

The only thing that made today more bearable was the really really nice staff in the co-op bank, who sat me down, made me a coffee and asked me to start at the top. They then went through all of my options and explained everything and how it would affect me and the credit rating I have...

 

Im now going to trawl through everything and get it all organised and pray that tomorrow is a better day.

 

Lynne

[yourbank]

fantastic news so far......

[jackieandwayne]

BSoLTH - brilliant! You clever girl you. Well done.

 

Three weeks ago I encouraged a friend to do something similar. He is a single dad of 6 kids (wife went off with his mate) from 10 - 1. He had got overdrawn by about £4 some months ago, this had spiralled with charges and on this particular day his entire benefit money had been taken. He couldn't feed the children.

 

I sent him down there with the first right of appropriation letter - they looked at him as though he was from mars and tried to tell him to bugger off basically. He explained that he was unable to even change the baby's filthy nappy as he had none. Couldn't care less.

 

Well, rightly or wrongly, (instructed by me of course!) he took the nappy off the baby, left it on their floor, they started going on about how he couldn't do that so he told them to explain that to his baby girl, who was now screaming as she was starving. He then left the baby in the bank, told the staff to feed and change her, went outside to me, got the other 5 kids out the car, marched them in and pretended to leae them there as well! He was only outside by the car and the older boys knew what was going on and thought it was great fun!

 

Then the account manager rang his mobile and asked him to return to the bank immediately or the police would be called to which he replied, "would you like the number of social services as well?". He went back in anyway, he was given his benefit money immediately,and as it was handed over all the customers in the bank were cheering and clapping!

 

And just for a bonus, the nappiless toddler had smeared fresh pooh all over their carpet!

 

He was asked to clean it up - and his parting comment was "that's a job more suitable for you lot".

 

Oh it was brilliant!

[bs0lth]

HI Yourbank and jackieandwayne.

 

Thanks for your moral support yourbank, I really needed to bounce what i was formulating off somebody that understands whats going on. I sort of needed confirmation that I was going to do the right thing. I still didnt believe that I was going to get all of the money back, but I was prepared for anything being better than nothing.... so I really felt that I had won a small victory over the bank when I walked out with all of it.

 

What I still cant get my head round, is the fact that every department in the bank and branches doesnt know what on earth is going on with the others...

 

The fact that you are entitled to youir benifits... and they have to be made available to you.

 

But never mind I just need to get on with claiming back everything else... and hope that I get a refund sooner than later

 

Jackieandwayne

 

I loved your story, Im so pleased that your mate actually got the money out of them. They looked at me like I was nuts after I said, if this is not sorted by 5pm your going to have to get the police to remove me... Im not leaving until it is... but then again Im used to people looking at me like Im nuts, thats just life... but what made me laugh was the the leaving of the little gift on the banks carpet... it reminded me of the farmer that dumped manure all over the front of his bank in process.. actually thinking about it Im sure it was the natwest as well.

 

Thanks again and I will keep you informed on my next step as I take it.

 

Lynne

[jackieandwayne]

Don't let them bully you Lynne, but just make sure you don;t get arrested next time! If that had happened to Andy I would have had to stand up for him, but he wasnt aggressive, just very firm with them - and actually that made it even funnier, he kept his calm, whilst they were all running around like headless chickens for a change. However, I did not tell that baby to pooh on that carpet!

 

Be guided by the experts on here, might take a while but you will get there in the end. In the meantime, have a good nosey of all the threads on here, and have a look in the Bear Garden - you'll laugh even more which is your best medicine, and you'll make many friends.

 

Keep on posting and look forward to reading how you get on. X

[bs0lth]

Hi Jackieandwayne,

 

I love this site, Ive been a member since 2006, if friends have a problem I normally tell them to come on here and look, as somebody should help. Over the last couple of years though ive tended to lurk.. come on have a look then go off again for a bit.

 

I really didnt quite know what to do, so came on searched and started to read... which is magic got my ducks in the same place and then thought ok lets see if somebody can help me get them in a row. Which happened.

 

I really hate that the banks seem to think that they are a law unto themselves, but I do hope that this is about to change...

 

I normally loose my temper with people in the bank, or start to shout, because its the only way I can normally cope... however yesteday I used a different tactic.. I appologised in advance to the person I dealt with, I explained that I was going to get angry, but it wasnt with them it was with the orgainisation they worked for, and in the end I think they were more helpfull because of it. I managed to keep everything under control, I didnt loose my temper, I didnt shout but I was determined to go out of that place with some of them money that had been paid in..

 

Ive just got to work my head into gear to get on with everything... Im still reading everything on here at the moment to try to formulate a plan of action... then there will be no stopping me...

 

I am going to win... I am I am... its my new mantra

 

Im just trying read about hardship... I seem to qualify but its whether the bank agrees... anyway thanks again.

 

Lynne

[yourbank]

The reason is that when an account goes to Credit Management Services, it means the branches cannot make any decisions on the account(its the same with collections at Birmingham---although they are another story).

You know already that I know the beast from within so any wins against my former employer is a good win for me as well

[bs0lth]

yourbank, I hope that this is going to be the start of a winning streak against them. Ive banked with them for nearly 24 yrs, and to be honest its only in the last couple of years I have had serious problems.

 

The problems started with Credit Management Serivices, they are the one that I hold responsible for the whole problem, and the attitude of Collections that I was passed to yesterday afternoon is appauling.

 

I was actually told that this is the way that everyone is treated and why should they treat me any differently... and also that if I didnt like it then I could complain, but that wouldnt get me anywhere...

 

So I wont get you started... hehe otherwise I will be hitting my head of a brick wall before long...

 

However, being funny aside, its nice to know that somebody knows just what they get up to from the inside, it at least gives me confidence to keep going with all of this.

 

thanks for your time by the way.

 

Lynne

[yourbank]

Formerly on the inside and delighted to be out. The grass is somewhat greener on the outside

[bs0lth]

The grass is always greener on the outside if you hate the orgainistion your working for...

 

I had this with my last employer...

 

and the sun shines (sometimes) these days, and I dont have my own personal dark cloud following me in the hours between 9-6

[bs0lth]

i got confirmation today that my new account with the co-op went through without a problem... now to start transfering everything over.

 

sigh it never rains

[bs0lth]

Well... I would just now like to show the Natwest incompetence...

 

so.. you read in my first post that I spent all of that time on the phone... and the guy said ok everything is back to normal, ive stopped your account being closed... yes I will start up your direct debits again... yes of course a new card will be sent out to you... and everything else...

 

then put through to another dept for them to say.. he was talking a load of tosh.. the accounts closed etc etc etc...

 

Well on Sat morning... guess what arrived...

 

A new pin number and card for the account they were in the process of closing...

 

What the hell is going on with this bank?

 

and how come, I still cant get my head around is that one dept saying ooo everything is ok.. here is a new card etc...

 

and the second is saying, the first is talking a whole load of ****

 

Im now pleased I changed banks...

 

Lynne

[bs0lth]

Well got my new account sorted and my cards came through today.

 

So next step is the hardship stuff, I still cant get my head around it. any comments would be very welcome

[yourbank]

Well got my new account sorted and my cards came through today.

 

So next step is the hardship stuff, I still cant get my head around it. any comments would be very welcome

Keep going, you're doing fine.

[bs0lth]

Well another update.

 

its getting better...

 

i just got a letter today, saying that I was unauthorised to take out the money from the account so they are charging me £30...

 

If I wasnt authorised.. then why did they give me it...

 

I just love this bank... NOT!

[bs0lth]

Im still fighting all of this.. and i thought that I would post an update...

 

natwest acknowledged my letter. cashed my postal order, and Im waiting for everything to come back again...

 

however...

 

Im fuming... Ive just read that the natwest have just reduced their bank charges from ~£38 to £5...

 

How on earth can they justify reducing them by £34.... and still claim that £38 was fair...

 

God I really hope that they sink without a trace when everyone gets their charges back... How Dare they charge people all of that money... and now say that £5 is fair...

 

Rant rant rant....

[texanbar]

You have made the sun shine even more today. Great result.... well done for getting the money back.

 

Like yourbank says, keep going... it will all sort itself out in the end!

 

x:)x