Lisa vs Natwest

[cyberbabeuk]

After a very strained relationship with NatWest, I am now going to reverse the table on them.

I am a single parent with two disabled young children with a very tight budget, I was devistasted when NatWest decided to sting me for £300 this month to go with the £300 they hit me with last month.

this has happened many times over the last five years or so.

the only money paid into Natwest is Benifits for myself and children to live on, sadly many years ago I got into a cycle of writing cheques to live on and bridge the gap from payment to payment.

To this day I still hold my cheque book and card and they have never asked for them back or offered to help when begged, but still continued to charge me and force me into poverty.

Only by reading a Sun news article last week did I realise it was possible to reclaim these suprisingly unlawful charges back.

I was livid because I have accepted these charges as a part of banking life for so long and know I have paid thousands over the last six years (I will let you know the full amount soon!)

 

I have found this site really helpfull and gave me the push I needed to get this ball rolling after reading all the possitive posts.

Many thanks and Ill keep you posted!

 

Lisa

 

 

[MARTIN3030]

Well done LIsa take some time to look at the faqs.

 

You will soon be on your way.

 

Good luck

[cyberbabeuk]

Well my statements finally arrived yesterday after a 52 day wait!

I spent all day (and night) adding it to a spreadsheet and to my horror and feeling most embarrassed to say this, the figure i have is almost £11000! (If i add the 8% interest)

I am still shaking my head at the figure this morning and just wanted to ask someone if i was right to add the charge you get at the end of each month but to take off the Advantage Gold Fee?

[livelylad]

Well my statements finally arrived yesterday after a 52 day wait!

I spent all day (and night) adding it to a spreadsheet and to my horror and feeling most embarrassed to say this, the figure i have is almost £11000! (If i add the 8% interest)

I am still shaking my head at the figure this morning and just wanted to ask someone if i was right to add the charge you get at the end of each month but to take off the Advantage Gold Fee?

 

 

What charge do you mean the overdraft interest charge?

[cyberbabeuk]

No they took my overdraft off me years ago and made me take a loan, It just says 'charges £28' It was called 'Unarrgd Borrow Fee' before.

[livelylad]

No they took my overdraft off me years ago and made me take a loan, It just says 'charges £28' It was called 'Unarrgd Borrow Fee' before.

 

Ok so have you gone overdrawn and this is the penalty?

[cyberbabeuk]

Yes i think so? I was alwyas overdrawn at some point in the month. I also had an Advantage Gold Account and i think that fee is included in the charge?

[MARTIN3030]

Claim everything except the subscription fee......this is the charge for the gold account services which you should usually benefit from.....normally varies between 12-15 a month.

[cyberbabeuk]

Thanks for your replies, yes this is what i have done and it still comes out at 11k.. my mother is going to kill me!

As for the Gold account, no i got nothing from it except more charges i guess, I did not even realise i was being charged per month for having it!

[cyberbabeuk]

Well here goes.. Preliminary letter sent to NatWest on 23/10/06 asking them to refund me £4999.99.

 

The total my charges come to is £11,893, not including interest, however, after reading these forums I feel my claim should be kept below the £5000 in order to stay within the Small Claims Court. I think the best course of action is to claim for an initial amount of £4999.99 and then the remainder there after.

 

I have sent a letter to my bank asking them to refund me this amount. I shall give them 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If they do not respond positively, within this time period I shall send them a Letter Before Action, giving them a further 14 days until legal action commences.

 

Lisa

[chriswatkins]

ditch the advantage gold account, the only ones to benefit from it is the bank I did because I never benefited from it and was advised by nwsm to get rid of it

[cyberbabeuk]

Oh I did ditch it, a few months back when I started this.. and I found out I was being charged every month for it! (I still don't know what it was about?!)

[cyberbabeuk]

I have just had a telephone call from NatWest.

I had sent this letter to the bank a few times over the last month:

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in reply to your letters dated 18 September 2006 and 10 October 2006, informing me of your intention to file default and to take action to recover debt on my accounts.

I am informing you that the above accounts are now in dispute that I intend to take legal action if necessary. I also advise you of your duty under Section 13.6 of the Banking Code not to default until the matter is resolved.

Anyway this man just tellephoned me to say, “They would not be charging me anymore on the accounts,(except interest) but it would be in our best interests that this matter is resolved sooner rather than later and would I agree to a settlement?"

At this point I informed him that the matter was being dealt with by a third party and I no longer wanted to continue with the conversation.

 

I just wanted to know if this was normal and if anyone else had an offer of settlement via the telephone??

 

Regards, Lisa

[cyberbabeuk]

Well LBA ready to send tomorrow. If they do not compy fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against them for the full amount, plus interest, plus costs, without further notice.

 

Hummpf

[cyberbabeuk]

Hi all..

I have just received a letter from 'Intrum Justitia' Credit Management Services, acting on behalf of NatWest.

They inform me they are taking legal action against me or instructing a collection agent to recover the outstanding balance.. which is £500 made up of Natwest charges!

I have just called them and informed them as I did Natwest that the account is in dispute right now. They were not very sympathetic and tried to get me to pay 25% of the debt now. They then informed me they will give me 28 days to clear the balance before taking legal action and I will be accumulating more charges!

Is this normal and has anyone else had this problem?

 

 

Claim Issued: 21.12.2006

Deemed Served: 26.12.2006

Defence Received: 09.01.2007

AQ Deadline: 11.02.2007

[cyberbabeuk]

Is it true that It's against OFT regulations for a debt collector to attempt to collect anything in dispute so they must refer the debt back to the original creditor e.g. the bank?

Is there a letter or something that I can send 'Intrum Justitia' and does that mean I also now have a Default on my record also?

Im really losing sleep over this

[cyberbabeuk]

Would this be ok to send?

 

Dear Sir/Madame, Account ref: ********/**

 

I am writing to you following a telephone conversation on the 21/02/2007 regarding the outstanding amount of £***.**. I informed your operator that the amount owing on this account is now in dispute due to the recent events that have come to light with bank charges. The amount outstanding is made up of unlawful charges that are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Schedule 2 (e) of the said regulations gives a non-complete list of terms, which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term that requires me as a consumer who fails in his obligation, to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.I believe that these charges are disproportionately high and therefore they are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. In addition I believe that the charges are a Penalty. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor co Ltd [1915] AC 79.along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963 It was held that a contractual party can only recover damages for an actual loss or liquidated losses. It is clear that these charges do not reflect any actual and or real loss.

Please be aware that this just does not relate to credit card companies but to any organisation that levies disproportionately high charges for late payment, overdrawn or returned payments.

 

It concerns me that after informing your operator that the whole amount is in dispute you are refusing to freeze any action or pass this account back to your client National Westminster Bank.

I will inform you now that the only form of communication I want from you must be done in writing and I will reply in writing. If you fail to adhere to my request then I will take it as an act of defiance and pursue this matter under the Administration of Justice Act 1970. I must make you aware that I believe you are already in breach of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states:

PUTTING PRESSURE ON DEBTORS OR THIRD PARTIES IS CONSIDERED TO BE OPPRESSIVE

This includes: Ignoring disputes about whether you owe the money

Refusing to freeze action if you dispute the debt. It is also against OFT regulations for a debt collector to attempt to collect anything in dispute so they must refer the debt back to the original creditor or any further action halted.

Just for your information I will not be making any payments to yourself until after the dispute is resolved.

I hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and I look forward to reading your written reply.

[cyberbabeuk]

This morning I received a reply from Intrum Justitia stating:

 

'In light of the information contained in your letter, I can confirm that the above account has been returned to National Westminster Bank and that you will receive no further telephone calls or correspondence from Intrum Justitia in relation to this account. I would like to thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.'

 

"Yes!" .. Well it feels like a little win for me

[laura_d]

Well done Lisa, thats one weight off your shoulders anyway!

 

Its been quite a while since you sent your LBA - has anything come of it? What stage are you at now?

 

L :o)

[cyberbabeuk]

'Quite a while'.. tell me about it! My AQ deadline was 11/02/07 and I am still waiting for a court hearing date.

 

Regards

Lisa

[Deller]

Have you tried phoning the court and asking what the situation is with regards to your claim, it does sometimes give them the kick up the backside needed to move things along.

[cyberbabeuk]

Hi all

Well at long last my cheque arrived yesterday! "Woo I Won!"

£5100 and was short of the AQ fee. After calling Cobbetts and informing them, they say they will send it out to me.

It was also dated 12/01/07 then they changed it to 12/02/07! Grr

The only thing though it says on the cheque I have to pay it into my NatWest account.. which I no longer wish to use so I am about to try and pay it into my other bank?

 

On with my 2nd claim now for the remainder (I just hope I don't have to wait as long this time!)

[::Lisa::]

Congratulations Lisa. Wonderful news!!!!

 

Hope the 2nd claim goes smoothly and fast for you. Good luck with your claim for the remainder!