Jenny Vs Natwest - let the battle commence

[jcasey2408]

I've been toying with this site for a while no wondering wether to claim or not then last month i inncurred over £180 in charges for the sake of 1 cheque.

I had too cancel a cheque so i rang the bank to cancel it which they charged me a tenner for. to cut a long story short they cancelled the wrong cheque so the original cheque i wanted cancelling bounced (charge incured) which they took out straight away which made me go over drawn (another charge incurred) which had a knock on effect with all my DD and SO. The bank corrected the mistake and cancelled the original cheque and alow the cheque that they had originally cancelled to proceed. Which bounced becuse of them immediately taking the charges without any warning. So now i've decided to fight back. This also happened about 6 months ago at that time i was on benefits and in that 1 month back then i lived on £10 a week because of them taking chrges and then charging me for the charge (if that makes sense). This seems to happen rather regularly with the NatWest as it happenss to my friend to. I'm of the opinion that someone at the bank goes to work and says '' Oh she hasn't had a charge for a while lets cause one for her''

Well there gonna get a shock now cos i'm taking it all back allong with capitalone and barclaycard.

Just printed off the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letters will be in the post tommorrow.

I'll keep you posted with my progress.

[jcasey2408]

Do i have to send my letters by recorded delivery so that i have proof that they recieved them???

Can i send a PO or does it have to be a cheque as the only cheque book i have is the one for the account im claining and after the last fiasco with the cheque's and charges i'd rather send a PO.

[Michael Browne]

PO is fine. You can take the SAR + fee (in that case cash even) to your branch and get a signed receipt for both letter and fee.

[jcasey2408]

Thanks thats great the branch is only around the corner. They'll have no excuse then to say they never got it. Do i still address it to the following address if i take it in personally.

 

National Westminster Bank PLC

135 Bishopsgate

London

EC2M 3UR

OR is there another one?

[Michael Browne]

I'd address the letter to the branch. They'll re-direct it via internal mail to:

 

Data Protection Manager

Retail Regulatory Risk

2nd Floor

Business House B

GOGARBUREN

P.O.Box 1000

EDINBURGH EH12 1HQ

[jcasey2408]

Thanks for your help!!!

I posted my S.A.R to the bishopsgate address recorded delivery. I checked with royal mail today and it was recieved on the 10th nov so they have until the 19th december to send me my statements.

 

Which no doubt they will arrive well after xmas with an excuse of it being slow because of the xmas post etc etc, Or they could arrive on time and i'll be tucking into my xmas dinner whilst trawling through a pile of statements.

Note to self - Make sure the statemants dont get thrown out with the used xmas wrap.

 

Seems a long time 40 days but plenty of time to get up to speed with the process by reading everyone elses threads.

 

Just a quick question though - :?

How much are the court costs? It will inevitably get that far so i want to be well prepared for the court fee's as were already cash strapped trying to pay for our wedding next year. Different people seem to be charged different amount ranging from £100 to £250. I've looked on the moneyclaim site and nothings is mentioned there.

 

Might be able to afford a honeymoon if natwest cough up!!!! Here's to hoping.

[Guest NATTIE]

I am sorry that I missed your first post because the initial problem re the £180 worth of charges can and still can be refunded regardless of whether the legal route is your preference. NatWest are hard task masters on refunds in general but a BANK ERROR as the one you have given on post 1 should have been refunded including any others associated with this error.

Last comments on post 1 are i assume a "throw away" comment as no one picks on anyone to charge just because they hadn;t had any recently.

Good Luck on the claim.

[jcasey2408]

To me it does feel like i am preyed on but thats my opinion. When you have very little money and the bank it taking what lillte you have left and more it does start to get personal especially when you have a little one to feed but have no money to feed him with.

 

I have spent weeks going round and round in circles with the bank trying to find out why i haven't had my money back even though it was promised. Appartntly they have no record of ever saying i was getting it refunded. They also went on to say that as i have had 2 previous charges refunded (as a gesture of goodwill) i was no longer eligible to have any more refunded as they had already done all that they can for me and even then they didn't have to do that.

 

I'll keep fighting though and i'm sure i'll win one way or another.

[Guest NATTIE]

Well, they should have noted the error on a complaints system they have, so you aren;t looking at a GOGW refund but a refund due to BANK ERROR which means that someone is not doing what is supposed to happen. I do understand where you are coming from and of course you will get everything. I am only annoyed at myself for not spotting the thread earlier on as I know that if the bank corrected their mistake they have to refund the charges that came as a result of the bank error. Gesture of Goodwill is merely where there is no bank error involved in the application of charges(I know that the charges, in itself, is unlawful at the levels debited).

[jcasey2408]

I've given up calling them after another attempt today. Saying that though they have already recieved my SAR so maybe they know what's coming. If i go into the branch it just gets noted then passed to the area manager who passes it to someone else who may or may not phone me back etc etc. So we'll see what happens when i get my statements. just going over some recent ones that i've found hiden away and it's looking promising!!!

 

thanks again for your help, i'll be needing plenty more guidance over the coming months.

[Guest NATTIE]

If the amount is above £50 it has to be sanctioned by a regional refunds team, but they should. My gut feeling says you are up for the fight so I would take everything from them.

[jcasey2408]

Well i've roughly gone over the statements that i have in my possession.

I need a bit of clarification -

 

Firstly, Where it says 'CREDIT' (followed by branch number) on my statement does that mean i have paid money or a cheque in over the counter at my local branch?

I ask this question as some of the 'credits' have only the branch number and others have this XXXXX(branch number) 04 sept XX04 card 02???

 

Secondly, what would it say exactly on my statement where they have refunded the full or part amount of a charge?

 

I know i should know better but some of the statements are that old i can't remember where as some of the current ones i know exactly what they are.

[Guest NATTIE]

I can tell you that one. The ones with just the sort code is cheques and the other ones are cash credits to the account

[jcasey2408]

Brilliant i thought as much but just needed to check so that i dont mess up the real one when it comes in the post. Think i'll get my accountant friend to double check it first though, just to be double sure.

 

Thanks again for your very useful help. I'd be lost without it.

[jcasey2408]

How much are the court costs? It will inevitably get that far so i want to be well prepared for the court fee's as were already cash strapped trying to pay for our wedding next year. Different people seem to be charged different amount ranging from £100 to £250. I've looked on the moneyclaim site and nothings is mentioned there.

 

i have trawled this site but cant find any help with this info anywhere. All i get when i go on moneyclaim is basically i have to enter my details of my claim. No where can i find any info on whether i may be excempt from paying the court fee.

 

Any links etc would be very helpful and much appreciated.

thanks

[jcasey2408]

googled it and found this

 

County Court Fees

 

makes me feel better thought i may have to find hundreds of pounds to pay for online claim if it gets that far.

[jcasey2408]

Recieved my statements this morning well some of them anyway.

 

No tatty brown envelope but a thin white one the size you'd send a single letter in. It was ripped all the way down one side. I shall have to mention that at some point especially if i don't recieve the missing pages.

 

Strangely all the pages that have charges on have been duplicatied. So on my way to the shop now to buy a highlighter and i'll be doing my sums later tonight.

[jcasey2408]

I spent the last couple of days going through my statements. Up to now i have £330 in charges mainly over the last year (small but £330 i thought i'd lost forever) I still have a few pages of my bank statements missing. I know for sure that i didn't recieve any charges for the time that i do not have my statements as i had only just opened the account and didn't use it for a couple of months until i had transfered all my bills DD SO etc over.

 

I have had 2 accounts with natwest both of them are active but i never put money in the old account anymore it's just sitting there as a back up with a few pence in it.

 

So my main question is do i include both accounts on the same prelim letter?

 

As my other account only has 1charge on it ( i managed to get all but this one refunded)

[cheddar]

Yes you can include both accounts.

[jcasey2408]

Any ideas as to where i send my premlin letter to requesting the amount of charges back.

I've looked around the site and found this:

 

NatWest Customer Relations

FREEPOST NAT12685

BOREHAMWOOD

WD6 1BR

 

is this the address i send it too?

[cheddar]

You can send it to any registered address, that one is fine.

[jcasey2408]

Cheers cheddar.

it will be in the post first thing in the morning.

[jcasey2408]

WON WON WON WON WON

I recieved a letter from the infamous stuart higley this morning. At first glance it seemed to be the standard bog off letter. But right down at the bottom it says:

 

As a gesture of goodwill and without any admittance of liability on behalf of the bank, we have agreed to refund the charges amounting to £249.00. This refund is made as a full and final settlement of your complaint. Any charges in the future will not be refunded.

 

I'm well happy with my little windfall and well in time for xmas.I know it's not in the thousands but it was money taken from me at a time when i had so little in the first place. I feel great it's brilliant. 1 - 0 to me. Roll on cap one, barclays and welcome finance.

 

Off to make my donation as this site is absolutely amazing and a big THANK YOU to everyone who gave me their bits of advice i couldn't have done it without you all.

 

THANK YOU, and

GOOD LUCK to every one.

[Deller]

Well done, great result. Like you say, look out Barclay's and co.

[The cobbett slayer]

Any charges in the future will not be refunded.

 

Actually, they probably will!

 

God bless Ebeneezer Higley and well done you:D