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NatWest staff encourage bank charge refunds
MoneySense financial guidance staff tell undercover Times Money reporters to write to our banks to reclaim penalties
James Charles
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; } NatWest staff are urging customers to reclaim bank charges while its lawyers continue to defend the controversial penalties, The Times has learnt.
Consumer groups have branded the bank “hypocritical” after an investigation by Times Money found staff routinely informing over-indebted consumers to write to their current account provider to demand charges are refunded.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the parent bank of NatWest which is 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is one of six high street banks, along with Nationwide building society, fighting the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the Court of Appeal to block an investigation into the fairness of bank charges.
High street banks hit customers with charges of up to £39 for going into the red by just a few pence. The banks make billions of pounds a year from the penalties, which consumer groups argue are disproportionate and can exacerbate debt problems.
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The Financial Services Authority has extended a waiver allowing banks to freeze claims for refunds while the court case rumbles on.
An investigation by Times Money into the NatWest/RBS MoneySense campaign, which offers free financial guidance in branch to its own customers and those of other banks, found that advisers encouraged consumers to reclaim bank charges.
Times Money reporters visited four NatWest branches across London posing as customers from other banks looking for financial advice. In three cases, the “impartial” MoneySense advisors recommended reclaiming overdraft charges. In only one branch did the advisor refuse to recommend such an approach.
One adviser, a staff member of NatWest, told an undercover reporter that she had applied for the refunds and had also written letters for her friends and family. She said that template letters could be downloaded from the internet.
Phil Jones, personal finance campaign at Which?, the consumer association, said: “It is hypocritical and bizarre that while RBS is levying these unfair charges on customers its own advisers are encouraging customers of other banks to reclaim them. RBS should throw in the towel on the current court case along with the other high street banks and refund all the customers who have been hit by these unfair charges in the past.”
Last year the banks appealled against a decision in the High Court to allow the OFT to investigate the fairness of charges levied by banks and building societies.
The Court of Appeal has not yet come to a verdict.
A NatWest spokeswoman refuted the allegations but declined to comment further.
MoneySense financial guidance staff tell undercover Times Money reporters to write to our banks to reclaim penalties
James Charles
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; } NatWest staff are urging customers to reclaim bank charges while its lawyers continue to defend the controversial penalties, The Times has learnt.
Consumer groups have branded the bank “hypocritical” after an investigation by Times Money found staff routinely informing over-indebted consumers to write to their current account provider to demand charges are refunded.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the parent bank of NatWest which is 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is one of six high street banks, along with Nationwide building society, fighting the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the Court of Appeal to block an investigation into the fairness of bank charges.
High street banks hit customers with charges of up to £39 for going into the red by just a few pence. The banks make billions of pounds a year from the penalties, which consumer groups argue are disproportionate and can exacerbate debt problems.
Related Links
The Financial Services Authority has extended a waiver allowing banks to freeze claims for refunds while the court case rumbles on.
An investigation by Times Money into the NatWest/RBS MoneySense campaign, which offers free financial guidance in branch to its own customers and those of other banks, found that advisers encouraged consumers to reclaim bank charges.
Times Money reporters visited four NatWest branches across London posing as customers from other banks looking for financial advice. In three cases, the “impartial” MoneySense advisors recommended reclaiming overdraft charges. In only one branch did the advisor refuse to recommend such an approach.
One adviser, a staff member of NatWest, told an undercover reporter that she had applied for the refunds and had also written letters for her friends and family. She said that template letters could be downloaded from the internet.
Phil Jones, personal finance campaign at Which?, the consumer association, said: “It is hypocritical and bizarre that while RBS is levying these unfair charges on customers its own advisers are encouraging customers of other banks to reclaim them. RBS should throw in the towel on the current court case along with the other high street banks and refund all the customers who have been hit by these unfair charges in the past.”
Last year the banks appealled against a decision in the High Court to allow the OFT to investigate the fairness of charges levied by banks and building societies.
The Court of Appeal has not yet come to a verdict.
A NatWest spokeswoman refuted the allegations but declined to comment further.
