Sage v NatWest. **I WON!!**

[katesage]

Hi all,

RE NATWEST BANK CHARGES

 

I am absolutely brand new to the site but have been stuck on here for about 5 hrs reading up on all i need to know in order to tackle my charges. I sit here surrounded by bank and credit card statements, slowly realising that over several accounts I have been charged at least £4000 in just rejected DD's, cheque bounces and unauthorised overdraft use.

 

But every time my account is in trouble, something called a monthly 'Paid Referral Fee' appears. They vary between £25 and £50 per month on top of a £6 'Service Fee' God knows what they all are and I'm too scared to call my quite pleasant business manager to ask as I feel bad for what I'm about to do. (well not that bad actually!!) They sometimes appear several times in a month and always say eg Paid Referral Fee relates to 16th Aug. These fees rack up considerably over the years but only appear when I'm in the ****!

 

This site is wonderful, an ex Amex employee recommended it, karma is good!

 

Kate:???: :-|

 

 

I have a business account that is a small ltd company, can i claim? Does the limited status restrict me.

[barracad]

Hi and welcome to the site.

 

Paid referral fees you can claim back.

 

The £6 service fee you can't claim back - do you have one of those 'Advantage Gold' accounts or whatever they call them? That's what the £6 is for. Ring Natwest and tell them to downgrade your account to a normal current account unless there's any reason you need the Advantage Gold account.

 

Business Account - you can't claim, but your limited company can. So assuming you're a director then go for it,

 

Great to see you've spent some time looking through the FAQs - as you know there's a lot to go through - I would suggest spending at least a couple of days reading through to make sure you know exactly what you're doing.

 

Good luck!

[katesage]

Wow, thanks!

I can't believe how much this is racking up to, between my business account and Adv Gold there have been at least £4500 in charges. I'm just a bit worried because one of the threads congratulated a guy on getting back £1240 but expressed suprise because NW doesn't cooperate on larger amounts. Mine's gong to blow them out of the water!

I like my business manager, but he sold me a dreadful mortgage that I had to pay to escape from because they stopped doing self cert, so I got lumbered with an inflexible product on a property they knew I had bought as an investment and intended to sell. So i don't feel heaps of sympathy!

I will keep reading but have typed up three seperate DPA letters for business, Adv Gold and Credit card, all with seperate £10 fees because I assume they will have to deal with each case seperately and I have about 80% of personal statements, 10% credit cards and 100% of business(in storage with accountants) so i'd prefer to get all the info in one go to get a definitive amount of the total charges.

Hope i'm making the right start.

Thanks again

kate:)

[barracad]

have typed up three seperate DPA letters for business, Adv Gold and Credit card, all with seperate £10 fees because I assume they will have to deal with each case seperately

 

One £10 fee entitles you to all information held about you, so do a combined one for your personal account and credit card.

 

Do a seperate one for your business account, but the DPA only covers living individuals so they may not fulfil this request - you should still be able to get the duplicate statements for a fiver though.

[katesage]

Thanks again, that saves me another tenner!

I am the only (living!) director of this company and it has only existed for three years. Why might it be tricky to get the info?

Takes a while to get the hang of this but I'm a trainee legal exec so it will be excellent practise! Think I'm going to specialise in Consumer Law, this is fascinating!

 

Can anyone else give feedback on what Natwest are like? the survey results are quite promising, I'm just nervy cos its such a large amount.

 

Thanks

[barracad]

I am the only (living!) director of this company and it has only existed for three years. Why might it be tricky to get the info?

 

Because the DPA only covers living individuals. A Limited Company is not a living individual - it is a seperate legal entity.

 

Think I'm going to specialise in Consumer Law, this is fascinating!

 

Have you seen the link on the left of the screen for the book by Patricia Pearl "Small Claims Procedure: A Practical Guide" - Great bedtime reading and if you buy a copy it helps maintain this site

[katesage]

Ok! i have spent most of today reading all the FAQs and other forum users experiences. I'm biting nails for MountainOfDebt and her Can of Worms!

Now, how do I keep a thread going of my experience. The DPA letters go off tomorrow recorded delivery and I'll need alot of advice and support.

I dont want my thread to be called 'Paid Referral Fees' how do I retitle it or do I start a new thread!?

I am owed £2088 on my NW personal account, similiar on my NW business and about a grand on three credit cards. How do I insert the progress info. Have I missed an entire section of the site?!

Thanks for all advice so far

Kate

[barracad]

If you ask me nicely I'll change the thread title!

 

What would you like it to be called?

[katesage]

PRETTY PLEASE!!!

 

err I guess Sage v NatWest. Let Battle Commence!

How do I start the info burst about the various companies I'm tackling. Its 70% Natwest, so I'll keep it in this thread but if I have success with Morgan Stanley and Virgin Card, I'd like to announce it somewhere other than the rooftops!

 

Can you recommend a previous completed story concerning NW and larger sums, there are so many threads I'm not sure where to start.

 

 

DO I JUST WRITE IT HERE AS IT HAPPENS!?

THIS MAKES ME FEEL RATHER DUMB!! eg NW paid me £5000

[katesage]

PS I bought The book, Thanks for the recommendation.

[barracad]

Done.

 

Just keep to this thread for all your Natwest stuff, use it as a sort of diary if you like to keep us updated with your progress.

 

Anything for other companies, start a thread for each one as and when in the relevant forums.

 

Good luck!

[katesage]

Hurrah! I feel like I'm getting going now. Have sent of the DPA letters to NatWest. Recorded of course. Ripped Tatty brown envelopes expected and will take inspiration from toilet bandit in kicking up a fuss.

 

Have just used Vamps spreadsheet to calculate charges onto my Adv Gold as I have 95% of the statements, (yes I was shocked at my organisation skills!) If they are correct then NW owe me £2513.08p.

 

One of the other DPAs relates to my business account, charges are likely to be about 1500.

 

Can anyone advise on NatWest's likely response. I have been a bit concerned by some recent threads about how hard Cobbetts Solicitors are fighting back. Has there just been a case of a guy losing in court? Cant find the thread but did find some confusing stuff about the charges being justified as a service and that they used a pricy barrister.

Is this an important recent development, cos it says in several places that no

bank has yet fought it in court?

 

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08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent NW Adv Gold £2513.08

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent NW Gold Mastercard £unknown

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent NW Business Acc £unknown

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent Virgin Card £unknown

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent Morgan Stanley £unknown

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[Pixlmixer]

Hi Kate,

Yes that does seem a bit vague... Watching this space for answers

Have you read determind-to wis's thread - 'Oh my God! They paid up'

He put an angle on his application regarding minimum living expenses and was paid in full in a couple of weeks - over 2K I think it was. Take a look see

[Pixlmixer]

Hi Kate,

Thanks for the pointer, Victory is SWEET and a good note to finish the week on! Will read in full monday, I'm out of here at last. have a good weekend

[barracad]

Has there just been a case of a guy losing in court? Cant find the thread but did find some confusing stuff about the charges being justified as a service and that they used a pricy barrister.

Is this an important recent development, cos it says in several places that no

bank has yet fought it in court?

 

I think what you have been reading is in the Abbey forum not Natwest. It wasn't a claim that against charges that Abbey won, it was a hearing for a set-aside and Abbey were granted the set-aside. Since then Abbey have settled the claim in full so it didn't make a difference.

[katesage]

thanks barracad

 

think you are right, rbrears thread today is obviously great and also mentions the cases. thought it was natwest but it doesnt really make a difference, the principles are the same.

dpa's went off yesterday so i await with trepidation what will happen next.

just a quick q, is it a bad idea to engage in verbal communication. i had a v good relationship with my business manager but after totting up all the charges yesterday i was so cross at being charged 29quid a month even when in credit. they upgraded me to premium after a sold my house and had some money in my account, i got cr*p service and appear to have paid alot extra for it. i was in frequent contact with him because he would move money between accounts for me,so i was a good communicator but in 5 yrs only three £38 charges were refunded.

i didnt call because i thought it might muddy the waters, i mean if i ring up and say please refund me 2500quid, he's hardly likely to oblige!?

i guess i've answered my own question:rolleyes:

thanx again

k

[barracad]

is it a bad idea to engage in verbal communication.

 

I wouldn't advise it. If you do need to speak to your bank about anything, record the call.

 

In fact it's good practice to record all calls you make to any company.

[katesage]

Thanks B

 

Kinda seems pointless in engaging verbally cos a 'humble' business manager is never gonna have authority to refund that kind of money. More to do with spleen venting............which is also a bad idea!

what if he calls me!? errr can i call u back. rushes off to get dictaphone!

k

[mountainofdebt]

Hi Kate

 

Have wandered over here as I was - ok i'll admit it - nosey to see what stage you're at.

 

If your case goes anything like mine, then you should get a reply from your business manager - even in response to your personal account as s/he seems to have responsibility for that as well as your business account. This letter should state that they think the charges are fair blah blah blah.

 

If requested, the statements should come from the Edinburgh head office. In fairness to Natwest, hubby's was sent by courier (so no compliants there!).

 

from then on the timescale is very much determined by you.....starting with how quickly you send them the 1st letter.

 

Be prepared for Natwest to enter acknowledge the claim at the last minute, and similarly with a defence. If they do enter a defence then have a look at my thread for possible responses.

 

hth

[katesage]

hi there

 

not nosy at all!

thanks for that info. your thread has had me on the edge of my seat all week! really been feeling it for you, i was so pleased to see you got an (almost) complete settlement. that must have been a good post opening moment?!

My business manager handles my Adv Gold as well as my Business Acc so I'm expecting contact from him next week.

They do seem to like to play brinksmanship games, rbrears got a great settlement yesterday but they really took it to the wire. huge encouragement to those of us at the early stages.

i will keep checking your thread as and when i hit those stages but am expecting it to play out in a similiar fashion.

have you been requested to downgrade or hand back c books etc?

anyway enjoy your victory on this gorgeous sunny day, well done again.

kate:)

 

 

 

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08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent NW Adv Gold £2513.08

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent NW Gold Mastercard £unknown

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent NW Business Acc £unknown

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent Virgin Card £unknown

08/06/2006 DPA Letter Sent Morgan Stanley £unknown

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[cumbria123]

Just to let you know what to expect, I got an offer from my business manager of just over £1000 this morning, see here for more details.

[mountainofdebt]

have you been requested to downgrade or hand back c books etc?

 

No ....that's what is surprising haven't been told to close the account - the only condition that they want me (or should that be hubby?) to agree to is not to disclose the details of any payment to any third party and confirm that I've written to the court.

 

But as hubby said if they closed his account, he'd close his business account, I'd close my account, my son would close his account and we'd also close our business account so I guess they thought better of it, lol!

 

Now off to buy some ice-cream so hubby can have it with his humble pie!

[the_toilet_bandit]

wow, someone using me as inspiration, i feel very special I would be very interested in the tatty envelope situation, as would my MP

 

Saying that, have they arrived yet? I couldn't really see due to my bleary eyes... (fighting natwest AND the hayfever.....)

 

right, enough hijacking....back to my own thread

[katesage]

Hi all

 

Just spoke to Royal Mail Track and Trace.

They say that the 'big' companies often set up a 'cage' in the sorting office and they come in to collect it 2-3 times a week.

Don't see how they can sign for them in this case as they usually use someone like a security company to collect. ??????

Mine was sent 8th, you other guys were the 6th and 7th so not sure what they are up to. As I said on Pix's thread I reckon the best bet is to also visit the branch and try to get someone to sign for receipt there. Then at least the forty day clock can start ticking.

 

Good luck all

Kate:)

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8/6/06 DPA Sent NW Adv Gold £2513.08

8/6/06 DPA Sent NW Gold Mastercard

8/6/06 DPA Sent NW Business Acc

8/6/06 DPA Sent Virgin Card rcvd 9/6/06

8/6/06 DPA Sent Morgan Stanley rcvd 9/6/06

8/6/06 DPA Sent Halifax

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Despite being a trainee legal executive Kate has absolutely no professional basis to offer legal advice and if unsure you should always seek qualified, insured legal advice!

__________________________________________________ ______________________________________

 

POWER TO THE LITTLE PEOPLE!

 

 

[katesage]

Hi all

 

boy its crowded on here today! Welcome to all new users of the site, its a bit like discovering The Matrix. Red Pill or Blue Pill!?

 

Anyhow.......

As advised by Pixl and many others I rang NW this morning on 08456052605. Got a lovely lady called Julie. She was very helpful and ordered my statements for me for two accounts at a charge of a fiver...........................................

she then put me through to 'customer support' where they were also v helpful and just asked how far i wanted the statements to go back. She also asked if it was 'to do with getting my charges back', I said yes it was.

I told her about my lost DPA letters and she admitted they have been absolutely innundated and that there were 'probably' delays and hold ups at head office.

She then very sweetly agreed to stop the cheques in those envelopes on the basis that they were 'lost' rather than 'stopped' because that way is free rather than the £10 it costs to stop a (£10!!) cheque.

She was curious about what I'm doing but not in a big brother way, more helpful than i expected in a million years.

Now lets just see if those statements arrive in 5-10 days. I did say it was a DPA request but you never know:-)

Kate:)