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Hello All
Well where to start! I have been having some difficulty with Natwest since about 2009 with regards to bank charges on 2 of my accounts. My main account was bombarded with charges for a couple of years which amounted to well over £3,000 at the time we were in financial hardship and stuck in a relentless cycle of massive charges from them. At the time I did and still do have regular dialogue with Natwest Collection Department as my branch will no longer deal with me or discuss any aspect of my accounts with me (helpful banking indeed!!) After some time I was in he process of commencing a claim with them to re-coup the charges but unfortunately I did not get this together in time before the ruling on this so I had not furthered this.
My main issue that I have now is in relation to a secondary account which I do not use and is usually almost maxed out and occasionally slips over it;s limit. The last time this happened was when the account slipped over it's agreed O/D limit of £500 pond due to the interest being added one month. Between April 09 - April 10 this account slipped over by £6; this then started a relentless cycle of charges at the time we were really struggling with money and daily/weekly pleading to Natwest Collections department to please stop the charging to allow me to get on top of it resulted in nothing positive emerging. I argues to them that if they would please just give me a chance then I could perhaps get on top of matters and bring the account to within it's limit and continue to reduce it. The Birmingham collections team were the most rude, contentious argumentative and aggressive people I think I have ever come across!!
This Apr09-Apr10 period eventually resulted in me being £453 over the agreed O/D limit and with a variety of what I consider to be underhand tactic employed to force me to pay. On 2 occasions without any warning they restricted access to our main account completely, we could not draw ,money from it or access it online; which left us with absolutely no money available to buy food etc (we have a young child) and access our means tested benefit. When I spoke to them they basically said that they had done this as a means to encourage me to address the problem on the secondary account which was over it agreed over draft limit. Eventually I had to borrow some money from an elderly relative and pay a bit back whilst setting up a payment plan to pay back the whole amount of £453 which was made up entirely of charges on charges and a few default notices as well, even through I was protesting that I thought this was grossly unfair.
Now once again in Feb this year the second account slipped over it's £500 limit by£4.93. This resulted in a charge of £20. At the same time in feb I was speaking to the collections team to set up a capping arrangement on my mortgage as I had for the first time missed a mortgage payment over Christmas. This resulted in me completing an I&E details with them over the phone which initially indicated that we were indeed in financial difficulty and they would not put the capping agreement in place until we re-jigged the figures to their satisfaction, as agreed with them at this time I also transferred £35 into this secondary account to bring it within it's limit. Once again with interest and another charge in March this account has slipped over it's £500 llimit to £527. I was intending to transfer some more in as soon as I could however now this April they have stung me with an £84 charge to now bring this acc to £618 - £118 over it's agreed O/D limit.
I phone the collection department the other day to discuss this and complain that this latest charge of £84 was completely unfair and disproportionate to any true cost to the bank. The chap I spoke to was as usual most unhelpful and told me he could not explain how this charge was justified and that basically as far as he was concerned if I did not agree to pay it there and then or at least set up a plan then he would register it as a 'no deal' and pass it to their recovery dept which would most probably result in the bank closing all of my accounts.
I do not want them to close my accounts (although I do intend to get them out of my life completely one day). I do however feel that it is unfair. I know it is my responsibility to keep my accounts in order, however I am struggling. I am sick and tired of being financially raped and extorted by Natwest, for the past 3 years I have been in a regular dialogue with the collections centre and regularly been at the receiving end of their bully boy tactics. Do I have to once again have to lie down and accept their outrages charges or is there grounds to dispute this with banks on the basis of fairness/being disproportionate??
Sorry for ranting, i hope i have been clear enough,I am just at the end of my tether with them now any advice would be so much appreciated
Many thanks in advance
Kowalski123
Well where to start! I have been having some difficulty with Natwest since about 2009 with regards to bank charges on 2 of my accounts. My main account was bombarded with charges for a couple of years which amounted to well over £3,000 at the time we were in financial hardship and stuck in a relentless cycle of massive charges from them. At the time I did and still do have regular dialogue with Natwest Collection Department as my branch will no longer deal with me or discuss any aspect of my accounts with me (helpful banking indeed!!) After some time I was in he process of commencing a claim with them to re-coup the charges but unfortunately I did not get this together in time before the ruling on this so I had not furthered this.
My main issue that I have now is in relation to a secondary account which I do not use and is usually almost maxed out and occasionally slips over it;s limit. The last time this happened was when the account slipped over it's agreed O/D limit of £500 pond due to the interest being added one month. Between April 09 - April 10 this account slipped over by £6; this then started a relentless cycle of charges at the time we were really struggling with money and daily/weekly pleading to Natwest Collections department to please stop the charging to allow me to get on top of it resulted in nothing positive emerging. I argues to them that if they would please just give me a chance then I could perhaps get on top of matters and bring the account to within it's limit and continue to reduce it. The Birmingham collections team were the most rude, contentious argumentative and aggressive people I think I have ever come across!!
This Apr09-Apr10 period eventually resulted in me being £453 over the agreed O/D limit and with a variety of what I consider to be underhand tactic employed to force me to pay. On 2 occasions without any warning they restricted access to our main account completely, we could not draw ,money from it or access it online; which left us with absolutely no money available to buy food etc (we have a young child) and access our means tested benefit. When I spoke to them they basically said that they had done this as a means to encourage me to address the problem on the secondary account which was over it agreed over draft limit. Eventually I had to borrow some money from an elderly relative and pay a bit back whilst setting up a payment plan to pay back the whole amount of £453 which was made up entirely of charges on charges and a few default notices as well, even through I was protesting that I thought this was grossly unfair.
Now once again in Feb this year the second account slipped over it's £500 limit by£4.93. This resulted in a charge of £20. At the same time in feb I was speaking to the collections team to set up a capping arrangement on my mortgage as I had for the first time missed a mortgage payment over Christmas. This resulted in me completing an I&E details with them over the phone which initially indicated that we were indeed in financial difficulty and they would not put the capping agreement in place until we re-jigged the figures to their satisfaction, as agreed with them at this time I also transferred £35 into this secondary account to bring it within it's limit. Once again with interest and another charge in March this account has slipped over it's £500 llimit to £527. I was intending to transfer some more in as soon as I could however now this April they have stung me with an £84 charge to now bring this acc to £618 - £118 over it's agreed O/D limit.
I phone the collection department the other day to discuss this and complain that this latest charge of £84 was completely unfair and disproportionate to any true cost to the bank. The chap I spoke to was as usual most unhelpful and told me he could not explain how this charge was justified and that basically as far as he was concerned if I did not agree to pay it there and then or at least set up a plan then he would register it as a 'no deal' and pass it to their recovery dept which would most probably result in the bank closing all of my accounts.
I do not want them to close my accounts (although I do intend to get them out of my life completely one day). I do however feel that it is unfair. I know it is my responsibility to keep my accounts in order, however I am struggling. I am sick and tired of being financially raped and extorted by Natwest, for the past 3 years I have been in a regular dialogue with the collections centre and regularly been at the receiving end of their bully boy tactics. Do I have to once again have to lie down and accept their outrages charges or is there grounds to dispute this with banks on the basis of fairness/being disproportionate??
Sorry for ranting, i hope i have been clear enough,I am just at the end of my tether with them now any advice would be so much appreciated
Many thanks in advance
Kowalski123
. Basically I made a repayment agreement with them as they phone me every day requesting I pay this back, I tell them they are unjustified and the amounts are too much; they then tell me every day I refuse to pay then the charges go up @ £42 per week, and if I refuse to make any agreement with them they will put it on their system as a 'no deal' and pass my acc to their recoveries dept who will do the same to me and if I still don't pay then they will close my acc's and register a CCJ against me. Basically either way I lose or it will cost me more is their stance
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