Natwest Loan repayment

[Preston41]

First post, some advice would be welcomed.

My girlfriend had a loan with Natwest, she came into some money and wanted to pay the loan off. She requested a settlement figure which was provided and agreed to pay off the amount. She then requested a letter to confirm that the loan was settled and this has been provided.

 

It turns out natwest have deducted another payment iro the loan, despite the fact that it was closed off and she paid the money as they requested. so how on earth can they do it?

 

In terms of FSA / FOS i'd really like her to take them to the cleaners as at what point is this treating customers fairly.

 

I can't see how they can do that despite them saying it had been closed. Surely this is illegal?

[yourbank]

Is this a fixed rate loan or a graduate loan cos I think I might know the answer?

[Preston41]

Fixed rate loan.

[yourbank]

Fixed rate loan.

Interesting, when did the loan payment go out?

When did the loan payment normally go out(had the loan not been paid off)?

Can you get her to cheque on her internet banking(if she uses it) that the DD is cancelled?

[Preston41]

Loan payment came out 3rd August - this was the normal dd date.

 

She requested full payment of the loan on the 30th July which had cleared due to poor service on the 4th. Despite of this the value date of the settlement had a value till the 11th August which was paid in time.

 

The direct debit is no longer on her account, and as such the payment that came out was marked as a transfer!! so they are taking out the loan payment as a transfer rather than a DD which at no point she agreed too.

[yourbank]

Loan payment came out 3rd August - this was the normal dd date.

 

She requested full payment of the loan on the 30th July which had cleared due to poor service on the 4th. Despite of this the value date of the settlement had a value till the 11th August which was paid in time.

 

The direct debit is no longer on her account, and as such the payment that came out was marked as a transfer!! so they are taking out the loan payment as a transfer rather than a DD which at no point she agreed too.

 

I think the payment is coming back to her. Give me a few minutes cos I have a loan with NatWest so want to just check how they process the payment and I will get you the date I would expect her to see the payment.

 

Can you double check the loan settlement figure you have and the amount taken to make sure they are both the exact amount or is the loan settlement figure minus the loan payment?

[Preston41]

The amount paid was the exact amount on the settlement figure.

[yourbank]

The amount paid was the exact amount on the settlement figure.

 

Get her to ring up the bank and ask them, cos it should take them roughly a few minutes to work this one out or alternatively go into the branch with the settlement figure and ask. I assumed they used the BACS system for payment but it appears that it would have credited the account the same day. The loan settlement figure normally states that if the settlement is after the DD day that the payment would decrease by this figure.

I can't work out what the issue is simply from what is written but had I been working for the bank, I could have very easily.

Did you have a printed settlement figure or was it hand written?

[Preston41]

The settlement figure was confirmed verbally and then followed up with a letter, which she presented when paying off the loan.

 

she has been trying all day to do get the money back. She went into branch explained to them what they've done wrong. The customer service chap tried ringing the loans department (based in Bristol) where the women on the other end of the phone said it needed a manager to authorise and didn't want to disturb them as they were all in meetings...and she said this to the person at Natwest which my GF heard as it was on speaker phone.

 

The branch said they can't do nothing. And she's got to wait at least four days whilst the lending team "look into it".

[yourbank]

The settlement figure was confirmed verbally and then followed up with a letter, which she presented when paying off the loan.

 

she has been trying all day to do get the money back. She went into branch explained to them what they've done wrong. The customer service chap tried ringing the loans department (based in Bristol) where the women on the other end of the phone said it needed a manager to authorise and didn't want to disturb them as they were all in meetings...and she said this to the person at Natwest which my GF heard as it was on speaker phone.

 

The branch said they can't do nothing. And she's got to wait at least four days whilst the lending team "look into it".

 

The process is right ie that they have to send a complaint to the lending team who have 48 hours to respond to the branch(which is 2 working days). It is very odd to be honest because if the closure request was done late then it should have been minus the loan payment. However, if the loan payment had been credited the same day(which I now realise happens) the settlement figure would be wrong and should reject, therefore menaing the loan would still be open but the funds bouncing back to the account from where they came. Keep us updated on what happens but furthermore, make sure your girlfriend keeps a note down of everything that has happened as well as time and expense she has incurred.

So far we have bank error in closing the loan for starters but let's see how much more time is consumed with this.

Did your girlfriend get a complaint reference number(cos it means it saves a trip to the branch for an update)?

[yourbank]

Actually scrap that: tell her Direct Debit Guarantee scheme on the loan payment cos it was a bank error.

[Preston41]

Tell me more about the Direct Debit Gurantee, as i can't see how that would help as the loan is closed. so is the Direct Debit not existance? If it helps please tell me more.

 

Got a feeling it's just awaiting game from Natwest now which is not on if they have incorrectly taken money. Very frustrating and quite frankly not good enough.

[yourbank]

The bit I don't get is the settlement figure given and debited without the Direct Debit being factored into the whole thing. You are right on DD Guarantee scheme since the DD is cancelled but the question is, where the F is the money? That has got me very baffled.

I might have another idea. I think(I have been out of the bank 6 months) that the branch should be able to see saved loan settlement figures via a system called Back Office(they won't be able to view this at weekends), that saved settlement figure can be double checked against what was written down(which might resolve the issue of what happened). I think it is a sit and wait one to be honest.