Natwest Advantage Gold account. Do I have a claim?

[pudding123]

I have been rattling about on MSE and CAG trying to find help with this. Martin Lewis's email started me thinking about whether I could do anything but I find the forum section for bank reclaiming on MSE not hugely helpful..
I wanted a bank account 7 years ago and went to Natwest. Straight away they pushed me into the Advantage Gold account and how the bank employing 'sold' it to me was this was the only account I would be able to get, it would improve my credit rating (which wasn't wonderful at that time) and would stand me in good stead if I wanted a loan i the future. It came with all these 'benefits' which were sold on the basis of being a bonus rather than what the £12 a month was paying for, rather like getting those Natwest piggy banks for kids accounts. I pointed out to the staff member I already had breakdown cover and we were covered for our phones through our house insurance and had travel insurance elsewhere but the guy said they were just a bonus and that all accounts would have a monthly fee from then on. So I took the account and never thought more of it. Nobody ever said to register for anything.
A year ago I stopped using the account and to be honest completely forgot about the monthly payment for the Advantage Gold account.
Until I found out I owed over £800 in charges accrued for non payment of the monthly A.G fee :tinysmile_aha_t:
How I found out was it came up in a credit search because my husband was trying to buy a business and so I paid the £800+ quickly to make sure his loan went through.
But I am a bit gutted that I had £800 in charges purely for these AG fees (yes I know I should have opened my Natwest letters but I didn't open them because I wasn't using the account. I thought they were just occasional interest statements - more fool me!) and even more gutted that I might not have had to pay these fees in the first place because they might have been missold.
I never used any of the services because I didn't need any of them (as I told the staff member)
Do I have a claim at all?

[taannyy11]

Re: Natwest Advantage Gold account. Do I have a claim?

Heay
if you've opened an account and the account you've opened is an advantage gold account and have given your consent as in signed for and ticked agreeing to terms and condition most of the time not reading them like i do
then sorry you don't have a claim

[leclerc]

Re: Natwest Advantage Gold account. Do I have a claim?

Heay
if you've opened an account and the account you've opened is an advantage gold account and have given your consent as in signed for and ticked agreeing to terms and condition most of the time not reading them like i do
then sorry you don't have a claim

I think you will find that I would love you to prove that the customer advisor went through all the benefits with the customer and asked them about medical conditions, whether they drive or not. There was a time when the sale of the account was more important than the small print and this once they tick the box and sign(would you say the same for PPI? over 16 billion pounds paid out ).

From what the first poster has stated then there is double coverage and clearly there is something that I think IS claimable. You've stated already that the advisor said that all their accounts was with a monthly fee because that is a load of crap misselling if ever I heard of it.
Write to them on the basis above, and you need to provide evidence that you were double covered at the time the account was taken out. If you never used the account then even better imho. If you did use the account for 12 months then did you go on holiday and pay for holiday insurance? Did you ever use the overdraft? If not then you have a claim imho but you have to set it out in a clear manner as I have suggested.

Explain chronology of signing up on account, then go through each and every benefit and prove you were double covered(because I always pointed this out to customer's when they came into the branch I worked at, back in the day). Double covered can prove useful for the failure of the banker to explain the product clearly and stating that all accounts are payable with a fee then that is misselling.