is it worth us claiming?

[HelenAJ]

we currently have a large overdraft which is over limit with Natwest, which in part is largely due to the charges they have placed on our account over the years. We can't afford to pay the overdraft back all at once but we wish to get some of these charges back - in one case we were charged almost £150 for a £10 refused direct debit!

 

We are worried that if we try to claim our charge back they will call our overdraft in, which we cannot afford to do as we are on a debt management plan at the moment due to me suddenly becoming unemployed- we want to pay our overdraft off with the refunded charges if we are successful- we just aren't sure if it is worth the risk for us- can anyone advise us?

[callumsgran]

hi helena, will the charges be enough to cover the overdraft? if so i say go for it girl! its your money theyve taken, why should they have it while you have to struggle? claim it, pay off overdraft and get a parachute account! hope this helps? Diane x

[whizzkid001]

I'm in the same boat with Natwest as are many other people! The first thing to do is to go open another account with another bank! There's no risk as you fear, if you stick to your guns - and your timetable, not theirs - you WILL get your charges back. Read all the FAQ's in the library so you know what you are doing and why. You'll get abundant support & answers from others in the forum at every step of the way. Good luck!

[joneshousehold]

Hi and welcome. This is a big site with a lot of information. Much of what you ask about is on here somewhere and it can be difficult to find. Do keep reading because the more you look and read the clearer it becomes.

 

Your posting pretty much describes the position of a lot of people on this site. The best thing to do as has already been said is to open another account somewhere else. They are often referred to as a parachute account on this site and if you do a search for this term you should get some ideas of who to go to and what types of account to open. You only need a basic account as your overdraft will stay where it is for the moment.

 

Some banks will try to call in the overdraft, others will do that anyway if you have had a lot of charges on the account (that's what Nationwide did to us and was the thing that helped me find this site in the first place). Others may even try to close the account. There is some information about that too. There is a view that this may be challenged because they are effectively penalising you for merely asserting your rights. If you think about it, banks are then effectively saying they will only offer you a service if you are prepared to let them act unlawfully!

 

Good luck with your claim and keep us posted even if you just want some moral support.

[HelenAJ]

thanks for the advice- we have already got another current account with Lloyds TSB due to the debt management plan as obviously what with the overdraft, charges, etc it was just swallowing our income and we were struggling to pay anything.

 

I am not sure if the charges would be enough to cover the whole overdraft, but I imagine they could be up to 2/3rds of it judging by how much they have charged us recently.

 

The other thing that concerns us are the small claims court fees- which we can't afford in the first place as obviously its a lot to find when you don't have it.

[callumsgran]

hi, if the claim is for over £1500 the most you will have to pay is £120 in one go. i know what you mean about finding it, my claim is on hold til friday! consider maybe borrowing it and pay it back when you get it refunded. is that an option?

[HelenAJ]

it might be it depends on my parents and whether they can afford to help us or not- they have had some big bills recently themselves, but then I suppose that we wouldn't have to find the money for a couple of months at least while we get statements and send letters and wait for responses, etc which judging by how slow Natwest have been with our DMP we could be waiting a while...

[callumsgran]

if it goes to court you will get the costs back so dont worry! true it will take a while i.e prob a couple of months so just try to keep a bit back where you can e.g save all your 20ps its surprising how quick they mount up (if you dont keep dipping into them) lol! theres lots of help on here if you need it ok? just give us a shout!

[HelenAJ]

thank you- I do have a 20p saving box- saved £3 so far from the past 2 months!

 

One thing- I am a bit confused about which charges I can claim back- I have a had a look around the site but briefly- is it all charges such as overlimit fees, bounced direct debit fees, general overdraft charges and the interest resulting from these as basically with that example I gave earlier of a rejected £10 direct debit costing us £150- would we be able to claim that all back? as that was obviously a multitude of charges slapped on one refused direct debit

[Seminole]

thank you- I do have a 20p saving box- saved £3 so far from the past 2 months!

 

One thing- I am a bit confused about which charges I can claim back- I have a had a look around the site but briefly- is it all charges such as overlimit fees, bounced direct debit fees, general overdraft charges and the interest resulting from these as basically with that example I gave earlier of a rejected £10 direct debit costing us £150- would we be able to claim that all back? as that was obviously a multitude of charges slapped on one refused direct debit

 

Essentially it's any charge that's a penalty rather than a payment for a service. All the one you mention are likely to be penalties. The things that are likely to be payments for a service are monthly fees for the provision of an authorised o/d facility and normal interest on an o/d.

[joneshousehold]

You can claim all charges except those for a service. So if you are charged an account maintenance fee say £10 per month or a charge to exchange currency etc then you can't get it back. The charges for exceeding the overdraft limit, for bouncing cheques DDs and similar can be claimed back.

 

You can also claim back interest charged on what you owe them for amounts taken unlawfully and this is more complicated. The easy option is to stick to the 8% allowed by the courts as part of the claiming process but only after you have made the claim in court. However some people have started to try and calculate the interest charged by the bank on the overdraft for those charges. This is difficult to do and you will need to look around the site for ideas of how to do this if you want to try. It is more risky though because the bank may be more inclined to challenge the claim.

[HelenAJ]

thanks for the information- thats a lot better than I thought

 

 

I will be sending a letter off to Natwest on Monday asking for our statements so I can work out how much they have charged us over the years- I really hope we are successful as this could bring some much needed freedom from them and a step towards being debt free!

 

I am going to try as much as I can to correspond with them only in writing it might take longer but at least I have proof of everything then!

[callumsgran]

GOOD LUCK! will watch with interest:p

[joneshousehold]

Ditto Cillitbanger

[HelenAJ]

lol, can't wait

[HelenAJ]

well, here is an immediate update- I can view my statements for Natwest online from the 1st Jan and we have worked out that they have charged us £633 up to the 31st May!!! and then they have added £141 in interest on top of that, although I don't think we can claim that, but obviously we will be trying to claim the 8% APR which would bring the £633 up by approximately £10.50 so at least its something. All I can say is if that is just for the last 5 months then I hate to think how much they have charged us over the last 6 years!!

[joneshousehold]

It's funny how we all react the same you know. At one time you would have said "Oh no, not more charges" now when you get those statements and you work your way through them you will start saying "Oh goodie, more charges!"

[HelenAJ]

another question, lol - with Natwest what is the address to send the DPA letter and request for refunds to? is it my local branch? I have had a good browse and can't find anything actually saying where to send letters off to..

[Bookworm]

.

MOVED FROM "GENERAL" TO NATWEST FORUM.

.

[HelenAJ]

also who do we make the £10 DPA cheque out to? so basically:

 

1: where do we send the DPA request and then fees request letters to and

 

2: who do we make the cheque out to?

 

thank you for your time

[Michael Browne]

Data Controller:

NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PLC

135 BISHOPSGATE

LONDON

EC2M 3UR

 

or you can take it to your local; branch, get a receipt for letter and £10, make out cheque to Nat West

[HelenAJ]

thank you I will send it by post as our local branch is quite a distance from us and the post office is nearer

[the_toilet_bandit]

I know this subject went thru the thread ages ago, but I collect £2 coins instead of 20p's it's amazing how many you get and spend....

 

anyway, enough hijacking, lets go and play with my own thread !!

 

seeya

 

mickie

[callumsgran]

hi, problem with £2 coins is i never seem to get any! and when i do its about 2 then i use them to buy fags!

[HelenAJ]

I am a bit confused about a couple of things after reading through the FAQs-

 

1: How can the bank refund my court charges if they aren't liable for them due to being in the small claims court? Surely that means that if I lost then I would be responsible for their court costs?

 

2: Can I claim for the interest added on top of the fees- e.g. I have three interests added in one month at around the same time as the charges- can I claim these? And if it doesn't go to court why can't I claim the 8% interest?

 

thank you- just trying to understand as much as possible