Syd83 V's Natwest

[Syd83]

Hi there,

I am new to all of this although I have been on this site a short while doing the ground work. Just to introduce myself, I am trying to reclaim bank charges on behalf of my boyfriend as we seem to have had millions of charges throughout the last year. I checked the last 6 months worth of statements available online and found that in the last 6 months we have been charged roughly £350!! As we are doing everything we can to get our bills paid off and save a deposit for a house, I feel that this money would be better off in our pockets than the banks and judging by some of the success stories it appears that we could get quite a substantial amount!

 

I have collated all the information it appears I need for the time being and feel ready to send off the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) tomorrow. I want it to reach NatWest before the postal strikes that are due as of Thursday.

 

I just want to check the address, I found one address whilst looking around the site but then found another on the Data Commissioners Site, could someone confirm if the following address is the correct one to send the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) too:

 

 

National Westminster Bank PLC

135 Bishopgate

London

EC2M 3UR

 

Thanks

[hedgey06]

Hi Syd, welcome on board the nat west forum!

 

The correct address to send the S.A.R - is this one:

 

Retail Regulatory Risk

2nd Floor

Cornerstone

60 South Gyle Crescent

Edinburgh

EH12 9WF

 

Also, whilst you're waiting for your information to arrive - have a good read through here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/105227-nat-west-claimants-new.html along with other threads on the nat west forum so that you gain as much knowledge as possible on the reclaiming process.

 

Best of luck, and just post back on here if you have any queries.......... or if you just want some moral support!

[Conniff]

Hello Syd

 

Welcome and lets hope all goes smoothly and quickly for you.

 

As others have said "go get em".

[Syd83]

Thats great, thanks, so the correct address is:

 

Retail Regulatory Risk

2nd Floor

Cornerstone

60 South Gyle Crescent

Edinburgh

ED12 9WF

 

Its typical, that was the address I originally had before reading that I should use the address listed on the Data Commissioners site! Thanks for clearing that one up!

 

Will get that sent off tomorrow and keep you posted on what happens from there onwards

[Syd83]

Hi everyone, well have a gues why i was late sending this off... You've probably got it in one; Charges on our account had put us overdrawn so there were insufficient funds to be able to write a cheque.

 

Luckily i got paid yesterday so the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) went off yesterday by recorded delivery to the address listed above with a £10 cheque enclosed.

 

Unfortunately it has now come to light about the Office of Fair Trading taking the banks to court. So where i stand now i really don't know. Will i still receive the statements? I should have thought they still have to send them out?

 

Once i have totalled all the charges i guess its just a case of waiting for a result on the test case and adding on the charges that are added to the account from that point on.

 

Lets hope we get a result soon... we could really do with the money to pay off some of the bills that have been left unpaid due to these charges

[hedgey06]

Continue with your claim as normal. Once the statements arrive, send them the prelim, then the LBA, then file N1 at your local county court. You need to ensure that you proceed with your claim regardless of the OFT announcement - have a read of zootscoots sticky for further clarification.

[Syd83]

Just to keep you all updated, we received the statements yesterday and i have brought them to work today, photocopied them and have just gone through the copies highlighting all the transactions labelled "Charges"

 

There seem to be loads. I have highlighted all of them so of course i need to go through and check which ones we can claim and which ones are Advantage Gold Fees.

 

For those of you following this and needing advice you can find the details of what you can claim here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/79547-natwest-charges-guide.html

 

I will let you know once i have been through them and totalled up the amounts we can claim back

 

Thanks!

[Syd83]

Right just been through all the statements and the grand total is £2601.00

 

Not as much as some people on here, but still a large amount!

 

Will now prepare the prelim and get that send in the next couple of days.

 

For anyone reading this for advise, things i struggled on were:

 

Charges Refund UDD £15

This is a "gesture of goodwill" made by the bank paying back half of the Unpaid D/D charge taken the previous day

 

Charges for odd amounts such as £20, £29, £38 and £40... these are due to charge increases and also due to the bank adding charges together, if its done to confuse you, it works! As long as you have a clear idea in your head of what charges cost what and when they increase you should be fine!

 

I strongly suggest reading:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/79547-natwest-charges-guide.html

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/27521-advantage-gold-unarranged-borrowing.html

[Syd83]

Right... Ive just realised that not only are there the charges but there is also interest in the withdrawal column. I now understand i need to calculate that too. Doh!

[hedgey06]

You can't reclaim the entire amount of overdraft interest - only the portion that's applied to your account due to charges sending you overdrawn/over your overdraft. It's easy to calculate if you don't have an authorised overdraft as you just reclaim the lot! If you do have an authorised overdraft though, download the correct spreadsheet to input charges and interest into.

[Syd83]

Right I have completed the simple and complex schedule of charges and from reading through this: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/105227-nat-west-claimants-new.html I understand that i should now be sending off my schedule of charges along with my preliminary approach for repayment.

 

From reading bits here and there on the forum i gather its best to send off the complex schedule of charges and am i correct in saying that i should ommit the interest column?

 

Thanks

[hedgey06]

I understand that i should now be sending off my schedule of charges along with my preliminary approach for repayment.

 

Yes.

 

From reading bits here and there on the forum i gather its best to send off the complex schedule of charges

 

If you're reclaiming overdraft interest - yes.

 

and am i correct in saying that i should ommit the interest column?

 

Yes again!

 

Best of luck Syd - keep us posted

[Syd83]

Thanks Hedgy, thats great, after looking through again I am a bit confused which column to take out, on the first page its just notes, on the second page there are headings:

 

DATE PENALTY APPLIED

DETAIL OF PENALTY

PENALTY CHARGED

CUMULATIVE PENALTIES CHARGED

INTEREST DATE

INTEREST CHARGED

ACCOUNT BALANCE AT INTEREST DATE

INTEREST FREE OVERDRAFT (ENTER AS +)

INTEREST ON PENALTIES

 

...and on the third page it is all about the 8% interest. So i guess that is narrowed down to page 2!

 

Do i need to take out any of the above columns and also i have an AG account but am unsure of whether i get an interest free overdraft. It doesnt appear so as i get charged interest everytime i am in the black.

 

What is the very last column - "Interest on penalties"? I dont understand what the figures are ment to be and how it is calculated.

 

Thanks for all your help

 

Syd

[Paintball]

Hi Syd

Have just replied to your other thread on default removal and I would suggest including "Removal of Default and all adverse maker data from my credit file" in your claim against NatWest (are you preparing your LBA now?), as well as using the method I mention in your other thread. Basically, you are keeping everything together and have more chance of getting the default removed if you include it in your claim against the bank.

Painty x

[hedgey06]

Hi Syd - when it comes to the complex spreadsheet, I'm definitely not the gal for the job! About all I can tell you is that you need to hide the 8% interest column until you file at court. Hopefully, somebody else will be able to advise you fully on the spreadsheet Q. Best of luck

[Paintball]

Hi Syd

 

Me again ... I have a spready in Excel which I can email to you. It is simple to use; all you need to do is change the rate of interest and enter you charges and charge dates and it will work out the rate of interest for you on each charge. I've used it successfully so far with one credit card company and am using it with NatWest and B/card.

If you want me to send it please click on my instant messenger icon underneath my avatar and its yours

[Paintball]

I should add that I also have the spready that calculates 8% on your charges and you have this too if you like.

[Lou89]

When they sent through the statements, nothing was showing as far as any notes that have been made, any agreements for his loan, any details of his setting up of Advantage Gold.

 

Should this of been included in the package that the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) requests. We are beginning to feel that they do not actually have the agreement for his loan!

 

EDIT: Also ment to ask, what is the address to send the schedule of charges to? Would it be the same as the one above for SAR request?

[Syd83]

Hi, can anyone answer the above?

 

Natwest just sent me 2 packs of statements that are the same, shouldn't i have had loan agreements, notes, letters etc ?

[hedgey06]

When you send a full SAR to Nat West, you're basically requesting all informtion that they hold on you - and this includes loan agreements, notes, etc.

 

If you want the additional information and they haven't complied with your request, send them one of the non-compliance (data protection) letters from the templates library and state specifically which information you're still waiting for.

[Syd83]

During my term of unemployment i was unable to meet the payments on my loan. I informed the bank that once i began my new job i would pay these back and due to the fact that they are completely useless, by the time they had decided to do anything about the arrears i had begun the job. Once i got paid i went to the bank in the city centre and made an agreement witha young girl there that i would pay £100 there and then followed by monthly payments of £400 plus the £218.25 until the arrears were cleared. They took the £100 but then i got loads of text messages asking me to call them. After numerous phone calls and trips to the bank i discovered that there were no notes of our visit to the bank on my records and that there was no way that she could have made an agreement like that as it is the lending centre that deal with it.

 

After more text messages asking me to ring them i finally got through to Jessica who said that the first agreement wouldnt have been accepted because the arrears have to be paid in full so we made an agreement that she would increase my overdraft to cover the arrears and on the first of each month my overdraft would decrease by £250 until it reaches £500.

 

We had a copy of this agreement through the post along with the terms and conditions and assumed that they would reinstate the direct debit to cover the monthly payments as we had asked her to do.

 

I checked my bank yesterday and found that my overdraft had dissapeared then i got another text message to call them, so did and asked them to call me back - the kind woman said she would in two minutes and took my mobile number.... half an hour later we got fed up of waiting and rang them back. We spoke to Daniel who confirmed that the overdraft had been reduced to the usual £500 as the original agreement wasnt kept too as i had missed the payment on my loan this month and also that it did not incorporate any charges or interest. I tried to inform them that there was no mention of anything he said in the terms and conditions of the agreement, that i had asked Jessica to reinstate the direct debit as part of the agreement and that if one of his colleagues has made an agreement they should honour this... He proceeded to talk utter rubbish which completely confused me and i asked to speak to a manager (He asked me what the problem was!!!)

 

After being on hold for another 10 mins we got back to him who said he couldnt get through to a manager and that he could reinstate my overdraft but not to £1750, it would have to be £1800 and something to cover all charges and interest. He said he would do that now and also remove the £28 charge for being over my overdraft (as that was their fault) and would send a new agreement out in the post.

 

Where do i stand, could i take them to small claims court? If so how would i go about this... we have not had a copy of the original agreement when we sent of the SAR and will be sending the next letter through shortly.

 

Thanks