Gulp here I go - Lariele V Nat West

[Lariele]

OK so on 18th August I sent via registered post my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to

 

Mr Alex Lyons

Data Protection Manager

Retail Regulatory Risk

2nd Floor

Business House B

GOGARBUREN

P.O.Box 1000

EDINBURGH EH12 1HQ

Hope that was the right place to send it, maybe I should have sent it to my branch...

 

Oh well anyway we'll see what I can get back. Nat West almost bankrupted me about 5 years ago and were insisting I sell my home. I'd lost my job they refused my calls and never replied to my letters. Eventually they agreed to meet - they sent a 17 year old boy who had been in the job about 3 weeks to talk to me.

 

Now Nat West, lets see what I can claim back for your daylight robbery!

 

Also to say that this is my first proper post on the forums in relation to banking stuff - this site is brilliant, I've been reading and reading. I found it when I did a search for action against Halifax bank - I have another issue with them that I'll possibly end up detailling too but its in relation to something different (breach of data protectionact). Anyway so far I've recommended this site to 5 people. I'll keep recommending it - it has been a brilliant source of information for me.

[Guest NATTIE]

Good luck with the claim, I was once seventeen, the good old days!!

[Lariele]

Good luck with the claim, I was once seventeen, the good old days!!

I was once 17 too =D Poor kid didn't know what hit him when he met a ranting 34 year old bint a few years ago hehe If it was you, I'm sorry I must have come across as a complete loony I could barely speak because I was crying so much!

[Guest NATTIE]

lol training on the job eh!

[Lariele]

lol training on the job eh!

 

ROFL I guess it did teach him a thing or two... nothing like diving in at the deep end when you start out in your career haha

[Tracey Wolfreys]

Hi Lariele

Welcome to the site,i am not much further ahead of you, still awaiting my bank statements.also sent mine to Alex Lyons. From the ones i have worked out that it comes to £3,700 can't wait to take it to the next stage. Bring it on!!!!

Tracey

[Lariele]

Interestingly, I just got home now to find statements enclosed from October 2002. Does this mean I can expect a package for pre-October 2002 or should I write asking where the missing statements are?

 

My other question to Tracey is how do you know what the charges are.. I was just looking at the statements and it just says "charges £28" and there is also some weird charge on my current statement that says "fee July 2006 £30" - I am overdrawn currently, I have a £200 overdraft limit but that appears to have disappeared from the top of my current statement - I'm £127 overdrawn.

 

I'm now confused since in the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) I requested (as per the template on this site):

 

"Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you."

 

At present this request appears to be ignored... maybe I'm impatient and it will all come nicely packaged with a bow tied around it and the statements pre-October 2002?

 

Can anyone help me identify which items have required manual intervention on the statements? Should I just tot up anything that says "charges" and gives no details? (some are obviously letters the £28 is the cost of a letter - no idea what that £30 from July 2006 is!)

 

Edit: Also on the single statement in single envelope it shows the £5 charge for statements. Now digging through a pile of old papers in a box to see if any old statements are in there - the joy of squirrelling everything away is that you have to find it again later. I always put things in a safe place, I know its safe because I can't ever find it so if I can't no one else can!

[Guest NATTIE]

lariele- answer 1 is yes to the rest of the statements arriving.

answer 2 the £30 sounds like a referral charge when NW pay an item that takes you over your overdraft limit, £30 an item (max £90 a month)

I tend to agree that full disclosure has not been given and you are not the only one in my opinion. Most people who have had an account with NatWest for at least prior to October 2002 and further back are settling for statements ONLY, that is not a SAR, as you rightly put it.

[Tracey Wolfreys]

Hi

Sounds like the £30 is a referral charge max. i believe would be £90 in any one month.(perhaps natweststaffmember could comment) All i have done is listed the charges which are on my statements if is is a referral it does say on my statements or if it is a upaid d/d or chq. What i did find confusing was the unarranged borrowing fee as not all of my statements say that they just lump it together with the ADG Account fee which has changed amounts during the years.

Hope that has helped Tracey

[Lariele]

Thanks Tracey and Natwestbankstaffmember (I LOVE that you are here helping people it really is heartwarming to me).

 

Hrm if the rest of the statements arrive and they have not done as requested in the S.A.R (they take the line at the start that "statements will be acceptable" and send just the statements and no details) should I write and bring that up with them? If so should I send that to the same chap I sent the S.A.R to?

 

I'll wait on the rest of the statements first before writing though.

 

I'm actually very excited to think I might be able to recover the charges. At the time when this all happened, my mother came with me because I was unable to speak - was crying the entire time. She asked about the charges and they fobbed us off. It was charges on charges and fees on fees - I've been with Nat West since 1985, parents were with Nat West since at least 1970 - the way they dealt with me cost them my parents business, they were disgusted with how things went. When I told her about this site she crossed her fingers and said "go get them."

[Guest NATTIE]

Tracey-working on the adgd and will post later as just going through the threads-seems to take longer than when I first joined the site which is good. lariele- good luck and I look forward to hearing how your mother gets on as well

[Lariele]

Right - I've sent them another letter saying "you've missed out statements prior to October 2002 and the notes etc but you have 27 days left to cough em up" and I've just totted up what they have charged me since then. I have to say for the most part until October last year the account had been run in credit. I accidentally went overdrawn on it last October when in the USA on holiday my main card wouldn't work in a cash machine so I used the nat west one thinking I'd be ok.

 

Anyway since October last year I've been charged.... *drum roll* £354.50! Thats pretty stinky! I can't wait to get the other statements, I KNOW from back then it was over the £600 mark.

 

NW staff member - you are correct and thank you for that, it was indeed Referral Fees - they appear up and down each month over the last ten months and the most charged in any one month is indeed £90!

[Lariele]

Next Wednesday, 27th September, will be 40 days since my initial letter to Nat West (sent on 18 August 2006). I've still only received statements from October 2002 onwards. I did send a letter on 31 August reminding them they have 27 days left.

 

If they fail to respond I guess they get a letter giving them 7 more days then we take it from there.

 

I hope they do respond, I don't want to have to estimate costs.

[Lariele]

An update - I know it isn't the 40 days till tomorrow, however the documentation hasn't come and there has been no correspondence from them at all.

 

Should I give them 7 days extra by letter as a gesture of goodwill?

[Lariele]

I wrote to give them the 7 days as a gesture of goodwill and two days later a letter arrived apologising and telling me they had now ordered the other statements and that they couldn't possibly point out where manual intervention had taken place since that would be too much like hard work

 

Bang on the 7th day the post arrived with copy statements. Now to squeeze in the time to work out the charges!

 

In addition - I know this isn't the place for it but still its my thread ;P - Halifax BOS have made a major breach in the data protection act by giving information to a 3rd party (a man at that and I have a very girly name - there is no way a man is named by my forename). They offered me £50 as a soother, it didn't even cover my costs as I had to take time off work since they wouldn't answer the phone at my branch where they made the breach. So they then offered me £150 as full and final settlement. This one is going to be an interesting series of events, I'm also off to prepare my letter to the Ombudsman and the information commissioners office to report them for a serious breach in the data protection act!