Bergkamp 1966 v NATWEST

[bergkamp1966]

Hi

My partner took out a loan with loan protection.

He had an accident in April 2005 and was off work for 10 months. The loan protection money was paid into his account which had accumilated bank charges and only 6 of the loan protection payments were used against his loan the remainder were eaten up by the charges.

He has been trying to pay back his loan since March and is not getting anwhere, so we have now submitted an official complaint.

We are asking that all charges be paid back from end March 2005 - present approx £1,600 most of which is down to late payment of Loan Protection monies.

We also have the problem of the misuse of loan protection money and are trying to work out what law or Act we can quote for this. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

Sent Official Customer Complaint via local branch 28 July. Below is the summary of my issues:

I am therefore seeking compensation from NatWest as follows:

* All charges that accumlated since 01 April 2005 to present are to be paid back to me

in full. With no further charges being made against my account whilst this matter is

being dealt with. A full breakdown of how each of the charges were made up is also

required.

* Evidence to prove that the 9 loan protection payments were paid against the loan

* The same interest rate as people with a good credit score would have, if my loan is

ever sorted out.

* A letter to be written to the credit reference organisations (with a copy for myself) to

ensure that my credit rating goes back up and that my scoring is not affected by events

taken place with your bank. (NatWest must ensure that any default notices entered

against my credit record are removed entirely)

* My phone calls to NatWest to be reimbursed (once I have received copies of my

itemised bills I will forward copies onto you).

* Appropriate compensation for the stress, inconvenience and time of work caused

through this mess.

I received a telephone call from local branch manager today informing me that the bank charges are lawful (yeah right, a penalty charge is never lawful) and that they are offering me £700.

I informed them that it is not acceptable and that as they have not dealt with all my issues that i will be sending my complaint higher and if i still don't get a satisfactory answer i will take legal proceedings

I've got nothing to loose so now going for the 'Kill' :grin:

[Guest NATTIE]

Just a word of warning, the things you have mentioned would have been escalated to the Customer Reations Unit who may have advised the maximum amount that the Financial Ombudsman Service would offer. I would suggest that you ask the manager for an explanation in writing as to what the £700 relates to and the points to which this offer has been made. If that sum is being mentioned, I would think that there is good grounds to your complaint for that offer being made but I do think clarification is required.

[bergkamp1966]

Thankyou for your advise. I know that the branch manager had forwarded the complaint to the relevant people and she was instructed to send the letter out to us even though she knew that we would not be happy. She rang me to inform me what she was doing and i told her that it was unacceptable. I have no complaints with the branch manager as she has acted in a very professional manner with our case, especially since i wrote a five page novel with a lot of attachments.

 

The laugh of all this is if they had sorted out the loan repayments back in March, June or even July then i wouldn't be pursuing this, and would never have known about the bank charges. But there is only so much of false promises one can take. All my partner wanted to do was to start repaying his loan once he was back at work and each time he rang he got a different person and false promises of new loan agreements being sent out.

 

Once i receive the letter i will hopefully know what the £700 compensation is for and if not i will do as you say and ask for clarification.

 

We were trying to be fair and reasonable but i will be asking that they now supply statements of all charges made against his account over the last six years as i am angry that they at this stage still have no mention of the loan agreement and the 3 loan protection monies not paid against the loan but eaten up by the charges instead.

 

I am led to believe that that this is a breach The Sale of Goods and Services Act. Can anyone clarify this.

[bergkamp1966]

UPDATE: Received letter it is the bog standard one referring to their charges being fair, reasonable and transparant, and the £700 is actually a goodwill gesture. No other points were actioned. What a joke.......................

[bergkamp1966]

Replied to their offer for the bank charges today informing them that we would only accept the £700 as a part payment and not full and final settlement of all claims. As they hadn't dealt with any of my issues, especially the loan.

 

Sent my SAR and am now counting down the 40 days to receive the information.

 

Can anyone advise on the problem with NatWest using 3 loan protection payments not being used against loan, but instead being used to eat up their illegal bank charges. i.e. are they in breach of the Consumer Credit Act or The Sale of Goods and Services Act.

 

I have to laugh as if they had sorted out my loan problem i would never have found this site and would not have been claiming the bank charges, so thankyou.

[bergkamp1966]

Hi

 

Could anyone advise me please. My sister had to declare herself bankrupt in 2004. Her bankrupcy is now over. Before this date she incurred charges with her bank and credit card companies.

 

As she went bankrupt can she still claim the charges made against her before the date that she went bankrupt.

 

thank you for having this great informative site

[bergkamp1966]

Customer Relations are now investigating the loan issue, have spoken to the person dealing with it, and they have promised me that they will contact me next week, as they have to give the different areas involved 2 - 4 working days to get the information to them and then they need to see what went wrong so that they can make a decision as to how to rectify it.

 

Have received 4 years of statements today so will be sifting through them this weekend and will hopefully receive the outstanding 2 years soon. I will then start the ball rolling.

 

I do find it a bit strange that i have not received a statement for August, is this usual when you are in dispute.

 

Can anyone answer my other question reference my sister's situation

[Guest NATTIE]

when should it have been sent?

[bergkamp1966]

My last statement should have been sent out on 17th August

[Guest NATTIE]

Is the account with Credit Management Services? If not get them to reorder it, there will be no charge as you haven't received it

[bergkamp1966]

No, the area dealing with the complaint are the Customer Relations, Ground Floor, Shenley Road, Borehamwood.

 

So I will request that they send the August statement out as you advised

 

Thank you for your advise it is very much appreciated.

[bergkamp1966]

I received a letter from NatWest today stating the following:

 

'you are claiming a refund of all charges from jan 01. However, I have no reason to believe that these have been anything than lawful and compliant to all regulations. As you may be aware the OFT has just announced it is to look at bank chargesand it will be 6 months before they are in a position to announce their findings.

 

In those circumstances it will probably be appropriate to wait and see how they view the issue of bank charges. In the meantime we will maintain a different opinion. However, purely as a gesture of goodwill i am prepared to offer an increased refund of £2000 plus compensation. If you are willing to accept this as full and final settlement please sign and return the copy of this letter. If you remain dissatisfied please let me know but the offer will not be increased further.'

 

My actual claim is for £3000.

 

My situation is not just about unlawful charges, it is about the misuse of loan protection therefore i have been corresponding with Natwest for a while now as my original complaint is for both.

 

I am waiting for further statements and the loan balance figures before i respond to their letter but am stuck on how to respond to their response above reference the unlawful charges. Any advice, guidance and ideas will be greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks in advance

[bergkamp1966]

Can anyone give me any advice on my last post it would be greatly apreciated.

 

I forgot to ask I have asked the bank to provide updated statements as these have been withheld from me since July and finally in this latest letter they are finally going to get them sent to me.

 

Are they allowed to withold them from me as my last one was in July and every letter i have written to them i asked for copies each time. Hopefully i will receive them this time.

 

Any advice for my last post and this one will be greatly appreciated and i will donate to this site once i have won both issues.

 

Thank you in advance

[bergkamp1966]

Sorry i forgot to ask another question in my latest letter it also stated:

 

'I confirm that our agreement to add the loan arrears to the existing loan account has been made as an exceptional matter and that this not a course that we would normally approve.

 

Your credit file will automatically reflect that the arrears have been settled but i cannot remove reference to their existence as they were properly recorded'

 

I asked for any default notices to be removed from my credit file as NatWest misused the loan protection money and tole me my account was frozen until the matter was resolved, when in fact they never froze anything and it is in my opinion that they caused the arrears in the first place and not me and i do not see why i should be penalised for their incompetence

 

Has anyone got any thoughts on this

 

Many thanks in advance

[bergkamp1966]

Hi Has anyone got any thoughts on my last three posts