Bank customers face rival ATM ban

[calamity jane]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/bank-custom...183109837.html


Thousands of Royal Bank of Scotland customers have been barred from using cash machines operated by the firm's high street rivals.

Changes brought in by RBS last month to its "basic" account have resulted in customers only being allowed to withdraw money from ATMs operated by the company.

Those signing up to the "basic" account pay no fees and are already unable to hold a chequebook or have an overdraft.

RBS would not confirm how many people are affected by the move, but it could be as many as 8,000.

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are fully committed to offering a free basic account for people who may otherwise struggle to access banking services.

"These account holders will continue to have free access to one of the largest cash machine networks in the UK.

"Our basic account holders will still enjoy free access to one of the largest ATM networks - over 8,000 - in the UK, through RBS, Natwest and Tesco.

"They also can make withdrawals at any Post Office counter."

Marie Burton, financial inclusion expert at Consumer Focus, said: "This is a kick in the teeth for many of RBS's most vulnerable customers.

"We would call on RBS to reconsider this move which will exclude its basic bank account holders from using the majority of the UK's free cash machine network."




CJ

[evilhamster]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

found this thought it wouldn't do any harm to sign it

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/13252

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

yeah, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it

[WendyB]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

I never knew that. I shall remember that next time my car is running on fumes and I have no money for fuel

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

Teaboy, as I've said above, I've got a Natwest account (two, in fact). One is an A/Gold and the other an ordinary current plus. Neither one of them will let me go overdrawn (or in my case, over my overdraft limit, as I'm usually overdrawn by about the 10th of the month) when using my debit card. Not even by a few pence. As soon as I pay for something on my debit card, it is subtracted from my available balance. If I attempt to use my debit card when there aren't enough funds available, it is declined. No exceptions. So I can't understand how people can actually go overdrawn/over their limit by using a debit card. The only time I ever get caught is if I've written a cheque which then hits my account before I expected it to, in which case it's my own fault.

Well one easy way to do it as at a pay @ pump on the garage forecourt. If you have £1 credit it (the pay @ pump machine) will let you fill up to £99. That would leave you £98 overdrawn immediately. So its quite easy to do it.

[leclerc]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

Yeah but the maintence fee is also charged daily on non business days where you account is overdrawn (or over the minimum allowed overdrawn limit which is now £6 on BASIC Account), so if your account is overdrawn for 3 non business days in a month you get charged 3 x £6.00 which used to be, if i recall correctly, £12 - So 3 x £12 = £36 monthly maintence charge (back in 2008) for being overdrawn. So with todays new rates on basic accounts, if you were over drawn 5 business days in a row (one charge at end of first business day) then 2 non business days (Sat + Sun) then it would be 1 x £6 + 2 x £6 = Monthly maintence charge of £18. So i think we both agree, but just have different interpretation of the charges.

I.e. from what you said, my understanding was you were saying you did not get charged for being over drawn on STEP accounts when you do i.e. Monthly Maintence charge + any interest.
I will write this one more time. You DO NOT get charged fees for being overdrawn on a STEP/BASIC account. Not today not ever. You can go into a negative balance, you can be charged for UNPAID ITEMS but you will NEVER be charged for MAINTENANCE charges on a STEP/BASIC account. If you have done then the account is either (a) NOT a step account or (B) has been charged for unpaid items.
So the charging structure is still the same, and its not that you are not charged for going overdrawn as you clearly are charged for going overdrawn, but instead of it being taken from your account (unlike unpaid item fees) the charges are not debited from your account till the following month. But they are still charges for going overdrawn no matter which way you look at it and there still daily charges for the non business days - Which in my opinion is the banks taking advanage of the fact you can not get into the branch on a saturday or sunday to pay money into bring it back into credit, unless off course you live in a town or city where the Bank is open on a saturday. Because i can not see any reason why they would charge us daily for non business days when they only charge for the first business day where you overdrawn at the close of the day, and not each business day like they do for each non business day, other than to take advanage and make extra profit from the fact people can not get into their local branch to pay money in to bring their accounts back in credit on non business days.
You have no idea what you are talking about. We are talking about the most basic account NatWest offer ie STEP/BASIC account and the only other account that works similarly(albeit there would be overdraft on the other account) is the Student/Graduate account. Those daily charges would not be incurred if cash is paid in on the Monday btw(that one was a change in their rules).
So just imagine how many people, particularly unemployed people, that live in rural areas where they have only a rival banks ATM machine that they can not use in the nearest village, so instead (if not checked online or not have internet) they will have to guess how much they have in the bank and hope there card purchase at the village shop doesnt take them over the £6 overdrawn allowance. I think there will be a huge increase on how many times they go overdawn as a result when compared to how many times they went overdawn when they were still able to access their money/account from rival banks ATM'S. Hell when at my local shop back prior to summer 2009, if the ATM was out of order when i was still on JSA at the time, there was loads of times when i guessed wrongly and ended up being charged for it if i weren't able to get to the bank to pay the difference before they closed, or if i not have enough cash to pay back into the account - which most times i didn't. And i dare say the most vulnerable people, for which this change will effect the most, will probably find themselves in the exact same situation, i.e. not have enough spare change to pay back into the account to bring it back in credit (or even able to travel to there nearest branch) and therefore incur charges for each non business day and first business day it is overdrawn for, until there next benefit is paid in - which adds up to a lot when your on benefits.

Teaboy, IF they have a STEP/BASIC account they face ZERO charges for simply be overdrawn. IF they have a STEP/BASIC account there is NO MAINTENANCE charges.
However, if they have a current account, current plus account, advantage gold account, advantage premier account, advantage black account etc, etc, then yes they face maintenance charges for exceeding the overdraft.
The STEP account has never had maintenance charges on it, and there are no plans for it to happen in the future. Are the charging scenarios wrong? You're argument is based on false assumptions about the most basic bank account NatWest offer however if you are talking about any other normal bank account where a cheque book is allowed and overdraft if applied for then your scenario works to a point in that current account with a cheque book facility can be charged unpaid items and maintenance charges which are made 21 days after the statement date(or charging period).

[leclerc]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

Teaboy, as I've said above, I've got a Natwest account (two, in fact). One is an A/Gold and the other an ordinary current plus. Neither one of them will let me go overdrawn (or in my case, over my overdraft limit, as I'm usually overdrawn by about the 10th of the month) when using my debit card. Not even by a few pence. As soon as I pay for something on my debit card, it is subtracted from my available balance. If I attempt to use my debit card when there aren't enough funds available, it is declined. No exceptions. So I can't understand how people can actually go overdrawn/over their limit by using a debit card. The only time I ever get caught is if I've written a cheque which then hits my account before I expected it to, in which case it's my own fault.

I don't want to argue with you but there is no account that natwest offer that does not allow you go overdrawn where you have a card(remember floor limits?). You can go overdrawn due to floor limits, card transactions being processed at close of business than immediately etc, etc,

[teaboy2]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

Teaboy, as I've said above, I've got a Natwest account (two, in fact). One is an A/Gold and the other an ordinary current plus. Neither one of them will let me go overdrawn (or in my case, over my overdraft limit, as I'm usually overdrawn by about the 10th of the month) when using my debit card. Not even by a few pence. As soon as I pay for something on my debit card, it is subtracted from my available balance. If I attempt to use my debit card when there aren't enough funds available, it is declined. No exceptions. So I can't understand how people can actually go overdrawn/over their limit by using a debit card. The only time I ever get caught is if I've written a cheque which then hits my account before I expected it to, in which case it's my own fault.

Well i went overdrawn using my card on a the step account, maybe your accounts are slightly different in someway. But i am referring to way back in early 2009 and late 2008. So maybe they changed it to stop you going over drawn when using your card, all i can tell you is my own person experience from going overdrawn using my card when i was still on JSA back in 2008 and early 2009. Plus the cards back then were meastro and not visa debit like they are now, so maybe that is something to do with it. I don't know, but like you i can only say what i experienced.

[WendyB]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

Teaboy, as I've said above, I've got a Natwest account (two, in fact). One is an A/Gold and the other an ordinary current plus. Neither one of them will let me go overdrawn (or in my case, over my overdraft limit, as I'm usually overdrawn by about the 10th of the month) when using my debit card. Not even by a few pence. As soon as I pay for something on my debit card, it is subtracted from my available balance. If I attempt to use my debit card when there aren't enough funds available, it is declined. No exceptions. So I can't understand how people can actually go overdrawn/over their limit by using a debit card. The only time I ever get caught is if I've written a cheque which then hits my account before I expected it to, in which case it's my own fault.

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

on step accounts you only needed to by 0.01p overdrawn to be charged

Are you sure?

One could become 1/100p overdrawn if someone in the computer centre farted at the wrong time.

[teaboy2]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

Teaboy2, I know NatWest charges inside out and back to front and with a step account you are 100% incorrect. I have the ones effective from 7th March 2008. I can give you the reference for the document: NMT0729S
ok. I refer you to conditions 6.6.2

"Interest and charges relating to overdrafts(whether arranged or unarranged in advance or not) will be payable and will be calculated and charged in the manner and at the rates set out in Personal and Private Banking: A Guide to Fees and Interest and in any overdraft confirmation letter. Interest will be calculated on the daily cleared overdrawn balance on your account(both before and after any judgement for payment).

On this thread I have pointed to the NatWest website for terms prior to June 2011 which have charging scenarios which confirm what I have said, I have then scanned and posted on here the "personal and private banking: A guide to fees and interest" page 12.

BTW, I wouldn't suggest you speak with any advisor on the natwest website since I just spoke to someone who basically doesn't know their basic account information.

Teaboy, if you have been charged maintenance charges or the £6.00 per day then you have a case however, I think you need to double check that. BTW, I am deadly on bank charges stuff with NatWest so definitely not confused by anything.
If you read the guide I did for natwest you'll notice that Unarranged borrowing is now called maintenance charge, paid referral fees were abolished entirely, and Card misuse then called guaranteed card payment. The fee amounts were different cos they charged a lot more in 2006.

I don't know how or why you are reading my posts and in spite of the two obvious things I have given, ie leaftlet from 2006 and the charging scenarios from pre june 2011 that we are here. The Step account/basic account has not changed with regards to how the charges work, the basic mechanics that is. The only thing that has changed is that unpaid items price has lowered to £6.00 per item and max of 10 items per charging period.

Yeah but the maintence fee is also charged daily on non business days where you account is overdrawn (or over the minimum allowed overdrawn limit which is now £6 on BASIC Account), so if your account is overdrawn for 3 non business days in a month you get charged 3 x £6.00 which used to be, if i recall correctly, £12 - So 3 x £12 = £36 monthly maintence charge (back in 2008) for being overdrawn. So with todays new rates on basic accounts, if you were over drawn 5 business days in a row (one charge at end of first business day) then 2 non business days (Sat + Sun) then it would be 1 x £6 + 2 x £6 = Monthly maintence charge of £18. So i think we both agree, but just have different interpretation of the charges.

I.e. from what you said, my understanding was you were saying you did not get charged for being over drawn on STEP accounts when you do i.e. Monthly Maintence charge + any interest.

So the charging structure is still the same, and its not that you are not charged for going overdrawn as you clearly are charged for going overdrawn, but instead of it being taken from your account (unlike unpaid item fees) the charges are not debited from your account till the following month. But they are still charges for going overdrawn no matter which way you look at it and there still daily charges for the non business days - Which in my opinion is the banks taking advanage of the fact you can not get into the branch on a saturday or sunday to pay money into bring it back into credit, unless off course you live in a town or city where the Bank is open on a saturday. Because i can not see any reason why they would charge us daily for non business days when they only charge for the first business day where you overdrawn at the close of the day, and not each business day like they do for each non business day, other than to take advanage and make extra profit from the fact people can not get into their local branch to pay money in to bring their accounts back in credit on non business days.

So just imagine how many people, particularly unemployed people, that live in rural areas where they have only a rival banks ATM machine that they can not use in the nearest village, so instead (if not checked online or not have internet) they will have to guess how much they have in the bank and hope there card purchase at the village shop doesnt take them over the £6 overdrawn allowance. I think there will be a huge increase on how many times they go overdawn as a result when compared to how many times they went overdawn when they were still able to access their money/account from rival banks ATM'S. Hell when at my local shop back prior to summer 2009, if the ATM was out of order when i was still on JSA at the time, there was loads of times when i guessed wrongly and ended up being charged for it if i weren't able to get to the bank to pay the difference before they closed, or if i not have enough cash to pay back into the account - which most times i didn't. And i dare say the most vulnerable people, for which this change will effect the most, will probably find themselves in the exact same situation, i.e. not have enough spare change to pay back into the account to bring it back in credit (or even able to travel to there nearest branch) and therefore incur charges for each non business day and first business day it is overdrawn for, until there next benefit is paid in - which adds up to a lot when your on benefits.

[leclerc]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

No i have no grounds to reclaim as the charges where inline with their terms and conditions.

Its only when your overdrawn and within the allowed overdrawn limit that you do not incur any charges. I think that is where your getting confused, as once your over that limit when it was brought in, you were in unauthorised overdraft for which the charges above applied too, just like you would be if you went 0.01p over drawn prior to the minimum allowed overdrawn limit was brought in.

As for the scan though names and fee amounts are different (though the £6 fee was more like £12 overdraft fee and unpaid items fees in 2008) it shows that yes you would get charged for unauthorised borrowing i.e. going overdrawn which is what i am on about.

Step account Specific terms as of oct 2008:

8 Step Account:

8.1 Step accounts are available only to individuals aged 16 years or over.
8.2 Arranged overdrafts are not available.
8.3 Cheque books are not available on your account.
8.4 account specific 6.2 to 6.7 apply to your account

Accounts specific locatec under current accounts.

6.2 - you may apply ofr additional benefits specified in the advantage blue welcome leaflet. We may alter any of these benefits provided we give you at least 30 days notice
6.7 - For purpose of account specific conditions 6.4 abd 6.5, we will not treat you as ceasing to be an advantage blue customer at your opuion if you closse your account during
a) the 60 period mentioned in general condition 10.4.1: or
b) the period specified in any notice we give you under general condition 7.3.1

So its says nothing about Step Accounts being exempt from being charged overdraft fees/charges when overdrawn

Teaboy2, I know NatWest charges inside out and back to front and with a step account you are 100% incorrect. I have the ones effective from 7th March 2008. I can give you the reference for the document: NMT0729S
ok. I refer you to conditions 6.6.2

"Interest and charges relating to overdrafts(whether arranged or unarranged in advance or not) will be payable and will be calculated and charged in the manner and at the rates set out in Personal and Private Banking: A Guide to Fees and Interest and in any overdraft confirmation letter. Interest will be calculated on the daily cleared overdrawn balance on your account(both before and after any judgement for payment).

On this thread I have pointed to the NatWest website for terms prior to June 2011 which have charging scenarios which confirm what I have said, I have then scanned and posted on here the "personal and private banking: A guide to fees and interest" page 12.

BTW, I wouldn't suggest you speak with any advisor on the natwest website since I just spoke to someone who basically doesn't know their basic account information.

Teaboy, if you have been charged maintenance charges or the £6.00 per day then you have a case however, I think you need to double check that. BTW, I am deadly on bank charges stuff with NatWest so definitely not confused by anything.
If you read the guide I did for natwest you'll notice that Unarranged borrowing is now called maintenance charge, paid referral fees were abolished entirely, and Card misuse then called guaranteed card payment. The fee amounts were different cos they charged a lot more in 2006.

I don't know how or why you are reading my posts and in spite of the two obvious things I have given, ie leaftlet from 2006 and the charging scenarios from pre june 2011 that we are here. The Step account/basic account has not changed with regards to how the charges work, the basic mechanics that is. The only thing that has changed is that unpaid items price has lowered to £6.00 per item and max of 10 items per charging period.

[teaboy2]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

I did say basic account (as in new basic accounts) charges you £6 for going more than £6 overdrawn not step account.

And yes Step account did charge you for going overdrawn according to section 6 of their private and personal bank account terms and conditions (oct 2008 issue)
Step accounts have never been charged for that. You need to read 6.1.1. Furthermore I have the guide to personal current account fees and interest from 2006. Paid Referral fees do not apply to step accounts and students accounts. I have to say I did have to check my copy of that cos the PRF no longer exists so I double checked it. Err 6.1.1 (2008 terms) states "unless we indicate otherwise in the account specific conditions for your current account, arranged overdrafts are available on request if your are aged 18 or over and you satisfy our criteria. We can arrange your overdraft limit by notifiying you personally to tell you what the new limit will be" I fail to see how section 6.1.1 has anything to do with not allowing them to charge you for going overdrawn and into unauthorised borrowing. Nor do the account specifics for STEP account state you will not be charged for unauthorised borrowing and that paid refferal fees did not apply to Step account.
Specifically 6.3.4 it states the following:

"Where you have an unarranged overdraft, in addition to any charge imposed under general conditions 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 (which related to payments that took you overdrawn i.e. card, direct debits, cheques, or unpaid item fees) we will:

a) apply a monthly charge known as a maintence charge(this does not apply to the Step, student, graduate account); and (Err yes it does apply it says nowhere under account specifics that it does not apply)
b) charge interest (known as debit interest) on the unarranged overdraft at a rate which is higher than the rate we charge on arrnaged over drafts. From the info I have I don't think even interest is charged either, but I'm happy to be corrected on the interest bit though. I refer you to term 6.3.5 which states where details of the charges are located."

So not only did you get charged for going overdrawn under section 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 but you were also charged a monthly maintence charge and interest for the luxury of going overdrawn on your Step Account. Which they referred to as paid refferral fee or unpaid item fee. So you get charged twice one for the paid referral fee or unpaid item fee (which could take you overdrawn) which if either did take you overdrawn, you then get charged a monthly charge for being overdrawn, an charge for going overdrawn, cleverly named a maintence fee, but regardless of the name it is still a charge for going overdrawn and you still got charge for making payments that were accepted that took you overdrawn (paid referral fee) with the maintence fee on top.
again you're wrong that applies to all accounts apart from step/student/graduate accounts. No it applies to STEP accounts in 2008/2009
So the charges are still the same (though value of the charge may have changes for higher or lower), though in 2009 they did charge me daily for some charges, but without looking at the statements then i could be confusing it with another account i had at the time. But basically the charges are still the same on basic accounts as they were on Step Accounts (accept on step accounts you only needed to by 0.01p overdrawn to be charged), yet now they are telling those that use such accounts still, that they have less access options to their money, but still have the same charges.
That wrong and I suggest you go to the natwest site and ask someone via chat cos they will confirm I am 100% correct. No its not - back in 2008 you still got charge for going a penny overdrawn even if their was a £6 allowance prior to being charged, once you were a penny over that you were charged daily for non buisness days so you still got charged the dam monthly maintence charge for each non business day in which you remained overdrawn (back in 2008/2009) The charges are still the same. Granted it is now £10 overdrawn before they charge on Step Accounts but back in 2008 it wasn't

From the legacy terms you linked

"
An Unarranged Overdraft Fee will be charged for each day on which there is an unarranged overdraft of greater than £6 on your account at close of business on that day. Please note: we will only charge an Unarranged Overdraft Fee for a non-business day (i.e. a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday) if there is an unarranged overdraft of greater than £6 owing on your account at close of business on the first following business day.
When charged

21 days after the end of the charging period (or the next business day if this is a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday). The charging period normally ends on the date that we issue your statement to you.
Fee Amount

£6 for each day for which an Unarranged Overdraft Fee is payable."


So if you went overdrawn as the result of a card, cheque, or direct debit payment or other form of gauranteed payment method, or by unpaid item fee the above applied to all accounts including the step account if it took you over the allowed minimum overdrawn limited that applied at the time.


Sorry but why limited peoples access to their money when the charges they would be paying are still the same as they always were and to insult peoples intelligence by saying it because there free accounts, when they were free accounts before even without limited access, just takes the mick to be honest.

Read more at: Legal Beagles Consumer Forum - Reply to Topic

I repeat that if you were ever charged anything other than unpaid items then you have a case for natwest to refund those fees.
Have included a scan from 2006 on their fees leaflet. You'll notice that some of the names have not been changed but the fundamental changes to natwest charges happened much later but the fundamentals of the step account have not changed.

Are we looking at a bank charges reclaim for you on maintenance and paid referral fees(the latter charge has disappeared altogether).

No i have no grounds to reclaim as the charges where inline with their terms and conditions.

Its only when your overdrawn and within the allowed overdrawn limit that you do not incur any charges. I think that is where your getting confused, as once your over that limit when it was brought in, you were in unauthorised overdraft for which the charges above applied too, just like you would be if you went 0.01p over drawn prior to the minimum allowed overdrawn limit was brought in.

As for the scan though names and fee amounts are different (though the £6 fee was more like £12 overdraft fee and unpaid items fees in 2008) it shows that yes you would get charged for unauthorised borrowing i.e. going overdrawn which is what i am on about.

Step account Specific terms as of oct 2008:

8 Step Account:

8.1 Step accounts are available only to individuals aged 16 years or over.
8.2 Arranged overdrafts are not available.
8.3 Cheque books are not available on your account.
8.4 account specific 6.2 to 6.7 apply to your account

Accounts specific locatec under current accounts.

6.2 - you may apply ofr additional benefits specified in the advantage blue welcome leaflet. We may alter any of these benefits provided we give you at least 30 days notice
6.7 - For purpose of account specific conditions 6.4 abd 6.5, we will not treat you as ceasing to be an advantage blue customer at your opuion if you closse your account during
a) the 60 period mentioned in general condition 10.4.1: or
b) the period specified in any notice we give you under general condition 7.3.1

So its says nothing about Step Accounts being exempt from being charged overdraft fees/charges when overdrawn

[leclerc]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

I did say basic account (as in new basic accounts) charges you £6 for going more than £6 overdrawn not step account.

And yes Step account did charge you for going overdrawn according to section 6 of their private and personal bank account terms and conditions (oct 2008 issue)
Step accounts have never been charged for that. You need to read 6.1.1. Furthermore I have the guide to personal current account fees and interest from 2006. Paid Referral fees do not apply to step accounts and students accounts. I have to say I did have to check my copy of that cos the PRF no longer exists so I double checked it.
Specifically 6.3.4 it states the following:

"Where you have an unarranged overdraft, in addition to any charge imposed under general conditions 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 (which related to payments that took you overdrawn i.e. card, direct debits, cheques, or unpaid item fees) we will:

a) apply a monthly charge known as a maintence charge(this does not apply to the Step, student, graduate account); and
b) charge interest (known as debit interest) on the unarranged overdraft at a rate which is higher than the rate we charge on arrnaged over drafts. From the info I have I don't think even interest is charged either, but I'm happy to be corrected on the interest bit though. I refer you to term 6.3.5 which states where details of the charges are located."

So not only did you get charged for going overdrawn under section 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 but you were also charged a monthly maintence charge and interest for the luxury of going overdrawn on your Step Account. Which they referred to as paid refferral fee or unpaid item fee. So you get charged twice one for the paid referral fee or unpaid item fee (which could take you overdrawn) which if either did take you overdrawn, you then get charged a monthly charge for being overdrawn, an charge for going overdrawn, cleverly named a maintence fee, but regardless of the name it is still a charge for going overdrawn and you still got charge for making payments that were accepted that took you overdrawn (paid referral fee) with the maintence fee on top.
again you're wrong that applies to all accounts apart from step/student/graduate accounts.
So the charges are still the same (though value of the charge may have changes for higher or lower), though in 2009 they did charge me daily for some charges, but without looking at the statements then i could be confusing it with another account i had at the time. But basically the charges are still the same on basic accounts as they were on Step Accounts (accept on step accounts you only needed to by 0.01p overdrawn to be charged), yet now they are telling those that use such accounts still, that they have less access options to their money, but still have the same charges.
That wrong and I suggest you go to the natwest site and ask someone via chat cos they will confirm I am 100% correct.
Sorry but why limited peoples access to their money when the charges they would be paying are still the same as they always were and to insult peoples intelligence by saying it because there free accounts, when they were free accounts before even without limited access, just takes the mick to be honest.

I repeat that if you were ever charged anything other than unpaid items then you have a case for natwest to refund those fees.
Have included a scan from 2006 on their fees leaflet. You'll notice that some of the names have not been changed but the fundamental changes to natwest charges happened much later but the fundamentals of the step account have not changed.

Are we looking at a bank charges reclaim for you on maintenance and paid referral fees(the latter charge has disappeared altogether).

[teaboy2]

Re: Bank customers face rival ATM ban

see above.

I did say basic account (as in new basic accounts) charges you £6 for going more than £6 overdrawn not step account.

And yes Step account did charge you for going overdrawn according to section 6 of their private and personal bank account terms and conditions (oct 2008 issue)

Specifically 6.3.4 it states the following:

"Where you have an unarranged overdraft, in addition to any charge imposed under general conditions 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 (which related to payments that took you overdrawn i.e. card, direct debits, cheques, or unpaid item fees) we will:

a) apply a monthly charge known as a maintence charge; and
b) charge interest (known as debit interest) on the unarranged overdraft at a rate which is higher than the rate we charge on arrnaged over drafts."

So not only did you get charged for going overdrawn under section 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 but you were also charged a monthly maintence charge and interest for the luxury of going overdrawn on your Step Account. Which they referred to as paid refferral fee or unpaid item fee. So you get charged twice one for the paid referral fee or unpaid item fee (which could take you overdrawn) which if either did take you overdrawn, you then get charged a monthly charge for being overdrawn, an charge for going overdrawn, cleverly named a maintence fee, but regardless of the name it is still a charge for going overdrawn and you still got charge for making payments that were accepted that took you overdrawn (paid referral fee) with the maintence fee on top.

So the charges are still the same (though value of the charge may have changes for higher or lower), though in 2009 they did charge me daily for some charges, but without looking at the statements then i could be confusing it with another account i had at the time. But basically the charges are still the same on basic accounts as they were on Step Accounts (accept on step accounts you only needed to by 0.01p overdrawn to be charged), yet now they are telling those that use such accounts still, that they have less access options to their money, but still have the same charges.

Sorry but why limited peoples access to their money when the charges they would be paying are still the same as they always were and to insult peoples intelligence by saying it because there free accounts, when they were free accounts before even without limited access, just takes the mick to be honest. All i can say is that am gald that most my money is secure in an overseas account and i can access it at any ATM.

The legacy rates are what the current terms are for Step Accounts NOW for those that have not yet been changed to BASIC Account, and the terms are not what they were above when i was being charged. And even with the current terms applicable to Step Accounts you still only get away without being charged for being overdrawn if your less than £10 overdrawn, yet what they charge if your more than £10 overdrawn is not stated. So that being said they now have a lower threshold as to how much they can go overdrawn on the BASIC account (£6 overdrawn before being charged) then when they were on the STEP account (£10 overdrawn for before being charged).