Natwest overdraft

[Lisadavies]

I have an 2 accounts at the Natwest, they are both basic accounts with no overdraft facility.
1 is for my wages and 1 is for ebay

3 weeks ago I had a direct debit for £35 but did not have enough to cover it but usually
because its a basic account the bank just knocks it back and I get a £6 charge. However
the Bank paid it and made me overdrawn and was then charging me £6 a day!! So by
the time I got paid from work it had gone from £35 to £140 which I just could not pay.
I had never agreed to this overdraft and I got no notification saying that they would
start charging me.

My 2nd account which my wages are paid into, I pay all my bills and anything else
by Debit Card when I get paid and I always check there is enough to cover everything.
I made some purchases on ebay which I again paid with the debit card and checked money
was in. On Monday I had to pay for something and I checked the bank and realised I needed
to put money in to cover it so my sister transferred £20 from her account into mine and
I proceeded with the purchase. After I had made the purchase I checked my bank and yes it
had been paid and £9 was the balance. Yesterday I checked my bank and found I was £31 overdrawn
and when I looked they had got all the purchases down that I had made when I got paid and made
it look like they had only just come in, and it included the payment I made on Monday when my Sister transferred the money. I know this is wrong as I will only purchase something If I know I have
money to cover it and once I make a paymentI always check to see that the money has been taken off the balance. Plus if I had no money in the account how could I have made a debit card payment as the Bank would have knocked it back. I rang the Bank but got nowhere with them. They just kept saying I did not have the funds to cover them. I now have to put a complaint in and that could take 8 weeks for an investigation. I do not earn a great deal and my only other money is what I make on ebay on odd items I can sell. I feel the Bank has manipulated the figures to make it look like I did not have enough. Also they have changed the rules on basic accounts and giving people overdrafts they never asked for and was always told that they do not allow you to have an overdraft on a basic account. What can I do as I know its wrong I am at my wits end

[Amethyst]

Re: Natwest overdraft

The Natwest basic account shouldn't have overdraft charges on it at all, only unpaid transaction fees of £6. they should also give 14 days notice of any charges. Did you check with Natwest they haven't upgraded your bank account or anything daft ?

On your online banking ( presumably where you checked your balance before making the purchases) does it have a section for pending transactions and did you check that before proceeding ?

[Lisadavies]

Re: Natwest overdraft

No as far as I know they are still basics accounts. On the online bank it has Balance and available balance. I always check to make
sure there is enough to cover all purchases. I know exactly how much money I have and how much I need to pay out.

[Amethyst]

Re: Natwest overdraft

Also the unarranged overdraft fee should be capped at £90 in each statement period.

[Lisadavies]

Re: Natwest overdraft

If there was not enough money in my account when I made the purchases the Debit card would have been declined.

[Amethyst]

Re: Natwest overdraft

You have done the right thing putting in a formal complaint with the bank.

[Amethyst]

Re: Natwest overdraft

It might have something to do with the way paypal processes debit card transactions - have you checked the records on paypal ?

[Lisadavies]

Re: Natwest overdraft

The thing is they have put me in financial hardship because any money I make on ebay will be swallowed up by the overdraft
and leaves me with nothing. I only make a couple of £'s on each item I sell so its not like they are big items I sell and making lots
of money. I sell them to top up my money. I have been told to ring them and speak to complaints dept after work today.

[Amethyst]

Re: Natwest overdraft

Open another account and have your ebay money paid there for now while this is sorted. Or keep it in your paypal account / transfer to a freinds account for them to take out in cash for you. anything rather than feed Natwests charges. Hopefully the complaints dept will see they cocked up in allowing the DD through on a basic account.

[Lisadavies]

Re: Natwest overdraft

If I make a purchase on paypal and I do not have enough money in the account, it is declined. I was told by the bank
last year that the when you make a purchase on your debit card the money is take off the available balance and put on
the balance which is pending but that it has been paid and the bank has taken it but is just waiting for the company to
ask for it. I contacted paypal yesterday and they confirmed that if there was not enough money to cover the purchase it would be declined by my Bank.

[nemesis45]

Re: Natwest overdraft

Hi welcome to Lb

If you are relying on the " mini" statements from NatWest cash machines
it should show a balance and a " you may withdraw" figure which if there
are any " pending " payments from point of sale transactions or DDs/ standing
orders will be lower than the " balance" figure.
Point of sale transaction in a lot of cases are not applied to the account immediately
because traders have to claim payment usually for small traders at the end of their
trading day or the next day, some large retail chains make take longer to claim.
Most times you cannot blame the bank the cash machine mini statement cannot
show the actual amounts of each pending transaction a print out statement from
the bank counter should be accurate up to the time it is printed.
The bank can't manipulate the figures as you suggest, it's all automated .
The system allows for a certain amount of leeway if small amounts are overdrawn
this is to avoid customers being embarrassed when a card is declined on a small
transaction.
(Source NatWest senior manager)

You can make a formal complaint to The Director of Retail Banking at NW but as
said they have 56 days to investigate and respond to a complaint, the response
is usually very much quicker.

nem

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Natwest overdraft

The thing is they have put me in financial hardship because any money I make on ebay will be swallowed up by the overdraft
and leaves me with nothing. I only make a couple of £'s on each item I sell so its not like they are big items I sell and making lots
of money. I sell them to top up my money. I have been told to ring them and speak to complaints dept after work today.

As Amethyst has suggested, open another account and link that one to your PayPal account. It's not easy to make a lot on eBay as everyone expects it all to be dirt cheap.

In the age of online shopping, there are many places where you can pay by PayPal without having to move the money to your account. :thumb:

[leclerc]

Re: Natwest overdraft

Do you use online banking or paper based statements?

What is the type of account that you have because you say that it is a basic account but what does natwest call those accounts? It might help us to decide what type of account you have and why you have been charged all that amount. The most basic basic account, as amethyst has said, does not allow an overdraft whatsoever which means the bank has to refund, however, I am not sure that that is the case here.