£152.00 charge!

[shane247]

I just logged into my Natwest online banking account and went to view my statements and there was an option to read a 'pre-advice note'. This is what it said..

 

Details of the account charges for the period 1 August 2009 to 28 August 2009.

 

The total account charge we will take from account number xxxxxxxx on 30 September will be £152.00.

 

Breakdown of charge.

 

Unpaid Item Fees for the period 1 August 2009 to 28 August 2009.

 

The unpaid item fees accrued on account number xxxxxxxx are £152.00.

 

Items that have generated these fees:

 

4 Aug 2009 D/D Paypal 6.12

7 Aug 2009 D/D Vodafone 9.78

14 Aug 2009 D/D Paypal Payment 6.12

14 Aug 2009 D/D Vodafone 9.78

 

The amount we will take from account number xxxxxxxx on 30 September will be £152.00.

 

 

 

I'm a part time college student and this account is overdrawn by £60 already so if this happens then i'm well and truly you-know-whatted.

 

Is there anything i can do at all?

Any help is appreciated.

[GreatWonder]

I know this won't really be considered help, but I would seriously consider changing banks when this is all resolved!

 

I know these charges are technically not legal however there are banks where you would have been a lot better off in this situation.

 

For example I bank with HSBC and for those 4 transactions occuring where there were no funds available, HSBC would have charged me £0.00. Any amount £10 or under is not charged and any above is never charged at more than the amount itself, up to £25 max per single transaction.

 

There are more lenient banks out there (while we wait for these practices to be reviewed for once and for all).

[williamh]

or you can give John Cunnane 020 8236 8007 ( Customer Relations manager) and ask him for your money back, i did and i got it ....

 

let us know how you got on

 

good luck.

[shane247]

Can you ellaborate williamh?

[williamh]

Hi shane247

 

Well its just that I had just over £500 in return direct debit charges applied to

 

My account in June of this year.....

 

So I first rang my local branch to ask for the return of the said charges and

 

They said no.

 

I then rang customer relations to complain and I said that I will take natwest to

 

Court if I don’t get the charges refunded...

 

They said no

 

So I then rang mr cunnane who is the manager of customer relations and I told him

 

That I would like the charges refunded to my account and that I will not stop

 

Complaining and that I would if necessary go to the next level until I get the charges refunded.

 

Three days later the £500 was refunded to my account

 

hope this helps

 

regards william.

[indebtstudent]

You could point out that, in light of the current court case, thier recent revision of charges appears to be an admission that the charges were too high.

 

If you don't want to mention the court case just say how was it that £30-£38 covered thier costs before but now £5-£15 does? Not sure if this will work I'm just thinking damage limitation here.

 

Does anyone know if it would do any good to point out that, if the full charges are taken, the OP still won't be able to pay (as is a student) and so this will snowball?

[yourbank]

You could point out that, in light of the current court case, thier recent revision of charges appears to be an admission that the charges were too high.

Which it isn't and I have said on the thread on the NatWest forum about the reduction of charges. It is a very good poker hand.

If you don't want to mention the court case just say how was it that £30-£38 covered thier costs before but now £5-£15 does? Not sure if this will work I'm just thinking damage limitation here.

Again, the banks' reduction in the cost of things is a commercial decision.

Does anyone know if it would do any good to point out that, if the full charges are taken, the OP still won't be able to pay (as is a student) and so this will snowball?

A student does not get maintenance charges, guaranteed card payments or referral charges since they are exempt from the account, only unpaid items.

[indebtstudent]

"You could point out that, in light of the current court case, thier recent revision of charges appears to be an admission that the charges were too high.

Which it isn't and I have said on the thread on the NatWest forum about the reduction of charges. It is a very good poker hand."

 

I'm a pretty sure the banks first line of defence on this issue was that the charges reflected thier costs. Thier cost cannot be £38 one second then £5 the next.

 

I could be getting mixed up here as obviously I'm most familiar with Nationwide and they stick to thie arguement but I believe other banks said this initially.

Edited September 13, 2009 by indebtstudent

[yourbank]

"You could point out that, in light of the current court case, thier recent revision of charges appears to be an admission that the charges were too high.

Which it isn't and I have said on the thread on the NatWest forum about the reduction of charges. It is a very good poker hand."

 

I'm a pretty sure the banks first line of defence on this issue was that the charges reflected thier costs. Thier cost cannot be £38 one second then £5 the next.

 

I could be getting mixed up here as obviously I'm most familiar with Nationwide and they stick to thie arguement but I believe other banks said this initially.

 

The banks' argument is that the charges are part of the main bargain of the contract(OFT test cases defence) and not about price. The fact, as we both know, is that I do not go into a bank to open account based on what would happen if i went over my overdraft or if things went wrong, I go there for anj account that gives me services such as a cheque book, overdraft, the ability to pay in and take out, and perhaps a card. On that style of argument they will lose.

[indebtstudent]

That's thier argument now but didn't that only surface when the test case got underway?

 

I agree with the last bit you said, in particular as has been mentioned before we can't exactly cross out the parts of the terms and conditions we disagree with.

 

Anyway what can we suggest to help the OP - is there any value in laying out the facts ie if you charge me £152, which I cannot pay, this will never end?

 

Put like that it does make them sound very unreasonable (shocker)

[yourbank]

They might want to argue that the breach does not fit the crime and if it is a first offence they MIGHT get some of it refunded as a GOGW, however, likelihood is standard reclaim process.

 

 

[indebtstudent]

Total value of transactions £31.80, even if they had paid them this far outweighs the £152 they are charging.

 

I concur with my learned friend, make the best argument you can and initiate a claim if this fails. Beg, borrow or steal (no literally!!!) to ensure you have the money to cover the charges otherwise the spiral will get worse.

 

In future cancel a payment if it won't be paid, the most I have seen a non finance company charge for a direct debit which has ben returned TWICE is £6.

[shane247]

Can't i just cancel the direct debits from Paypal and Vodafone? Or is that illegal.

[indebtstudent]

Of course you can and no its not illegal. You may have a problem if its in the contract that you pay by DD. Many companioes charge more if you don't pay by DD, or charge an additional fee if you don't pay by DD (much to my annoyance). However as I'm sure you've learned one returned payment more than wipes out any saving...

[shane247]

Is cancelling them a simple process?

[indebtstudent]

Yes it involves going online and clicking cancel!!!!

 

Well that's one way to do it, or you can go into the branch, or write to the bank, or ask the company to cancel them.

 

Best practice is to cancel with the bank AND the organisation, most banks allow you to do it online or by phone but I daresay there's one or two who insist you go in and sign to cancel it.

 

By whatever means you cancel with the bank the company can't claim the payments anymore. BTW the companies are required to notifiy you when the payments are coming out, if they didn't do that then they aren't complying with the direct debit guarantee.

 

Some companies charge more for people who don't pay by DD but, if the problem is about keeping control of payments, some people find this a price worth paying. I only have DD's with companies who've proven they are trustworthy to my satisfaction, with the notable exception of Virgin Media as I don't fancy a court case.