Help with Natwest!!!!!

[manicmum]

Oh where to start....

Today at 5.15pm I went to the cash point to withdraw some money to buy some formula for my 4 month old baby only to be presented with the message - your card has not been activated contact your branch - this happened three times. Then rushed home thinking the worst that someone had cleared my account out, logged online to find that my current account had disappeared and only my old dormant student account was left - balance £288 od. Promptly rang Natwest was promptly put through to the collections dept to be told that my current account had been blocked due to the outstanding amount on my student account.

I explained that I was not in the position to clear that amount - due to children and being on maternity allowance - rent arrears etc, was told that nothing will be done to remove the block on my account until I paid the outstanding amount - in his words " a balance showing of £930 - I was in a much better position than a lot of other people", nevermind the fact that £800 of this was due to be spent on rent and council tax this week leaving me with £130 to live off for the rest of the month - he then did a "income vs expenditure" on the telephone - which incidently didn't include things like utilities and water rates - as it was my prinicple outgoings which only included my monthly rent and council tax and weekly shopping bill of £40 were greater than my income - I was then informed that I was living beyond my means, yes I admit that I was aggitated at this point but I did not shout or swear but I think I may have put his back up when I asked whether the call was being recorded and what his name was, etc. Any way the upshot came down to him saying I would only be able to get the money from my account if I paid £210, and he would reduce the other £80 and then release my account - or issue me with a default and if I wanted money would have to wait until tomorrow and go into a branch. I then told him I was not in the position to make the payment today, and no I could not borrow money off of family or friends as he suggested, and then asked if Natwest were going to hold all my money as ransom until I paid - a lot of fluffing and dodging the statment - he graciously removed the block on my current account but stated that Natwest will be issuing a default - to say I was upset was an understatement but at no point did I shout or swear but made it perfectly clear that I was not impressed.

Any way after getting off of the phone rather irrate, ploughed through my old online statements for the student account only to find that the offending item which pushed me into the red (i ran the account at a minimum and did not use it) was a debit interest item (£1.83) which resulted in me being £0.66 od and then incurr a years worth of maintenance charges.

 

Is there any way I can get these charges wiped, complain about the rather rude and unhelpful advisor on the phone and close the account at no cost to myself and more importantly without a default - I'm not necessarily looking for compensation - but at the end of the day these charges were not incurred through me spending money not in my account - both my natwest personal loan account - which was paid on time over 3 years and finished on time, and my current account which incurrs no charges and is run perfectly I don't want to go though the hassle of opening another account and transfering everything away, but at the same time when I want to buy something which is a necessity for my young baby I want access to my money.