@natwest_help Nat West Unfair OD Charges **WON+Compensation**

[laineynic]

Hello

In July the Nat West Bank paid a direct debit that took us £7.94 o/drawn.

 

Unfortunately we were unable to clear the £7.94 for 11 days which incurred a charge of £66.00.

 

Every penny we have is spoken for and we have to live to a strict budget.

 

If the dd wasn't paid we would have incurred a £12.00 charge not a £66.00 charge.

 

This has escaleted and wehave now paid the Nat West £271 in charges.

 

We spoke to the Nar West the very first time it happened and they told us th\t they could do nothing and the charges stood.

 

We wrote to them raising the fairness of them creating an unauthorised overdraft, charges on charges and how it was causing a debt that we could not afford.

 

Yesterday by phone - not by letter they told my husband that they had followed the banking rules and they had domne nothing wrong.

They maintained the charges were fair and that as a gesture of goodwill they would refund £24.00 worth.

 

We advised him that we don't get paid until 28th Novembr and we are o/drawn today because of the last £66 in charges.

We will now incurr a charge of £120 for 20 days of being overdrawn.

His response was speak to amember of your family to see if they will lend you the money to take you out of ovrdrawn balance.

 

He also told us that going to the FOS would make no difference as the Nat West has done nothing wrong.

 

Having gone down the avenue of using the new banking code what is left.

 

Everytime we have been to the FOS regarding banking issues they have ruled in favour of the bank.

 

Please if anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated.

[dx100uk]

thats disgusting!!

 

and telling you to borrow from freinds too!!

 

how unprofessional and immoral and against all banking codes too!

 

not on any benefits are you?

 

dx

[laineynic]

After an email from the FSA who gave me some good advice on what to do regarding the bank which they told me to take my complaint to the FOS.

 

I completed the forms for the fos however I am feeling very peed of today.

 

I have had an email from the a consumer consultant at the FOS regarding my complaint against the Nasty West Bank

 

He wrote in his first email

 

"I am writing regarding your complaint to us about the unauthorised overdraft charges made to your current account.

 

As you may be aware, the Office of Fair Trading brought an important legal “test case” to establish if it could assess whether the amounts the banks were charging were fair.

As part of this legal ”test case”, the Court was also asked to consider whether these types of charges amounted to “penalties”.

 

Put simply, during the course of the legal “test case” the Courts ruled that these sorts of charges:

 

· did not generally amount to penalties; and

· cannot be challenged on the grounds they are too high.

 

The legal action ended in a decision by the Supreme Court – the highest court in the United Kingdom – on 25 November 2009.

The decision, and a summary of it, can be found on the Court’s website (at www.supremecourt.gov.uk).

 

In the light of these decisions by the Courts, we could not uphold a complaint that the charges were too high, or were penalty charges

– including that they did not properly reflect the bank’s costs for the task.

From what you have told us, those appear, broadly, to be the arguments on which you have brought your complaint. It follows that I cannot see we are able to help you further.

 

There is more information about our approach to complaints about bank charges on our website (atwww.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/bank-charges.html).

 

If I am mistaken, and your complaint is not as I have described, then please contact me with the details of your complaint.

 

I responded by explaining the unfairness of them putting me into a debt of £3756, charges on charges, unauthorised overdraft charges etc.

His response has been to say

"Thank you for the reply.

 

The response previously sent sets out the findings of the court in regard to bank charges rather than my own personal interpretation of your complaint.

 

That said this ruling does also encompass the 'fairness' of charges, a term you have mentioned in your email.

We cannot therefore consider any complaint regarding the fairness or otherwise of such charges.

 

Furthermore I must add that the banks are allowed to place charges on top of charges despite your clear rejection of this policy as unfair.

 

We may consider complaints concerning 'financial hardship' in relation to charges.

However, in order to do so you must first have written to the bank specifically complaining that you are in financial hardship

(as opposed to writing to complain purely about the application of the charges or the fairness/level of the charges) which is related to those charges.

 

In the case of the former

the bank does have a duty of care to their customer but they are not necessarily under any obligation to make a refund of those charges.

But, we may consider such a case where this complaint has been put to them and then rejected.

[laineynic]

To DX100K

 

- yes he was an apalling excuse for a human being.

 

He made me feel so small.

 

I just don't think the BCBOS argument is working as the banks are not recognising it and they don't want to.

 

I am on DLA and have about 4 weeks left of ESA.

 

I was in hospital last week,

 

we are struggling to make ends meet and the last load of charges were taken whilst I was in hospital.

 

We were away in Birmingham and my daughter had to send us money because the Nat West took our last £70.00 in charges.

[laineynic]

I read Bankfodders post your story on the forum and you will get help in the normal way.

 

If it is a BCOBS case then we'll show you what to do.

 

Is my case against the Nat West BCBOS?

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?353102-Santander-given-lesson-on-BCOBs-and-inwardly-digest&highlight=BCOBS+benefit

 

dx

[laineynic]

Thank you that is very useful I have taken that letter and adapted it tomy situation.

[laineynic]

After yet another arrogant letter from a so called customer support manager I decided that enough was enough.

 

So taking everything I had gone through I emailed the CEO at RBS.

 

I received a call from a senior executive at RBS and we chatted about what had happened.

 

He promised that he would sort my complaint and said that it should never have got to this stage.

 

By the time he got involved Nat West had taken £483 in charges all relating to 74p and £7.94 overdrawn.

 

This gentleman did come back to me and he did as he promised.

 

He also told me he had listened to a phone call in which the customer services advisor had laughed at me and asked me to seek help from family and friends.

 

I have accepted his apology and on the 31st Decmber we were paid £783 which includes the charges and £300 compensation.

 

I'd like to thank Consumer Action Group yet again for the help and support without this website I wouldn't have known what to do.

[dx100uk]

great result!!

 

dx

 

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