OK. Some movement forward. I took the POA to the branch and filled out their form and signed it, she says it will take a week to trickle through their system. The assistant manager was very nice but informed me that All Branch staff are specifically forbidden to discuss charges claims. When I mentioned in passing how unfair he charges were considering that DD declines were automatically done by compouters in a microsect she smiled and said "I could not possibly comment". She actually seemed to be very sympathetic but her hands seem to be tied. She also told me that Nobody at branch level could refund charges now even when it is a bank error. DaddyGeorge Still no reply from Lyn Kirkland at Edinburgh.

Hi there. Doyou still need help with this? If so I can help you. My wife is sick and cannot deal with financial issues at the moment so has executed a power of attorney in my favour. If you still need help please PM me soonest. DaddyGeorge

I made my cheque out to NatWest Bank and they returned my wifes statements no problem.

"bump"

Two things. First: Today I posted off the whole particulars of my case to Edinburgh To a Named person reccomended on this forum. This is their last chance before I send an LBA and immediately begin my Claim for the County Court. SECOND: IMPORTANT All Bank Charges Claims are now being Automatically Stayed at Northampton County Court, although they will consider application to remove the stay in exceptional circumstances such as hardship.

Been away. I randg a Firm of Solicitors whose Litigation Dept said that sadly they did not do Legal Aid, however they were prepared to give advice on the phone. She said she was of the opinion that NATWEST had no real choice whether or not they accepted the Power Of Attorney, as it was a duly executed and Legal document. She thinks that maybe they failed to rewad it properly and thought it was a Lasting Power Of Attorney which is very different and needs to be Registered with The Office of The Public Guardian She said to make an appointment with the Branch Manager and talk about it, explaining it in words of one syllable. I will do that before I send off the LBA. DaddyGeorge

Another Update: Today We recieved the materials requested in the SAR. Together with the usual denials re any manual interventions as predicted here. It is almost the 14 day limit on the initial letter but they refuse to recognise my Power Of Attorney (POA) and returned the letter with the POA and said my Wife had to make an appointment at the branch to gop through their beurocratic procedures to add the POA to the account. The letter was addressed to my Wife not me, emphasising their refusal to accept the POA. Can anyone help? Do I now proceed to the LBA or do I have to fight on about the POA first. My Wife is truly unable to deal with this as they well know.

We received back all the letters and the Certified copy of the POA today, stapled together, with instructions to take them to the branch as they require branch level certification and various forms to be filled out. I know this is a fairly minor thing but it sticks in my craw that they can just ignore the law as they please. I am considering consulting a Solicitor about the POA and adding any fees to the case. Can I do that? Also today we got a reminder about the account being overdrawn.

I do not work for a bank, I am an unfortunate consumer. I am 60 years old and remember well the old banking system whre you were charged so much per cheque (in advance when the cheque book was issued) and were also charged per transaction. Let's face facts boys and girls, bans are there, bot to provide any kind of service, but primarily to make as much money as possible for their shareholders. Whether banking is free or fee based is largely irrelevant. They are going to make the same amount of money whichever way they run. Every time successive governments have introduced laws and/or regulations to control banks 'excesses', the banking industry jointly and severally have fought viciously to maintain their current status quo. When they have eventually had to grudgingly concede ground, they immediately recoup their original position in some other devious way, working their way through the law and the system like rats through a sewer pipe. It is no accident that money tends to be referred to as 'Filthy Lucre'. There are a number of glaring eroors on this thread: 1. Not everyone has or can get a debit card. I can assure you that there are hundreds of thousands of the poorest and ,ost vulnerable who cannot get one. 2. Cheques are being phased out because it is approaching the time when Banks will be forced to clear cheques overnight. Banks claim it is a security issue but we all know that it is not. On the same subject, 'Working Days'. We all know that banks and financial institutions process transactions 24/7 every day of the year except Christmas day, so why pretend that only Monday to Friday are working days? 3. I have been reliably informed by a very senior banking official (a few years ago admittedly) that every £1 left in a bank account for twenty four hours makes the bank around 25 pence. That is a lot of money isn't it? 4. Has anyone realised that to some people like a state pensioner (or Pension Credit recipient) receiving the bare minimum legal income, even £5.00 per month bank fee would be a sore blow. People. The only way that the banking industry can be made to toe the line is to hit them where it hurts. Successive governments have shied away from making any real effort to control the banks. I know if I were in a position to do so I would call the Financial Mandarins together and tell them, Act in a fair and equitable manner as set forth by the regulators or see ALL you profits treated as windfalls and taxed at 70%, with immediate effect. The sound of rectums snapping shut would be deafening. The there would be a scramble to make themselves APPEAR as consumer friendly as possible. Lets face it guys the banks make obscene profits and pay very little tax. Just my take on things, I am an ordinary man, the man in the street, or as a judge so succinctly one put it, 'The Man on The Clapham Omnibus'. But in common with al;most everyone else I have been subject to the 'abus' of financial institutions of one kind or another for most of my life, so forgive me if my view is somewhat jaded.

This is utterly ridiculous!! I have just been trying out the excellent spreadsheet templates on here. I have figured out that to date my claim (on behalf of my wife) is a piddling sum of less than £300. Why the hell dont they just settle it and avoid all this added expense to them (or in fact their shareholders), and what my Dad always called Embuggerance. Maybe it is just that, they like to bugger us about.

Hi there. Just a quick update. I sent off the POA and PL via recorded delivery yesterday. I also went to the branch and attempted to serve the POA and Letter of Assignment. They refused categorically to accept the POA stating that they had procedures in place involving appointments and form filling and signatures on documents before a POA can be put in place. I pointed out that The POA was alreeady legally in place, and what they were talking about was merely their administartive procedures and therefore irrelevant to the POA as according to the Powers Of Attorney Act 1971 it is already in force. They still refused to accept it though and refused to sign a receipt for the hand delivered letter too. Not sure where to go now about the POA.

I have just prepared, executed and sent of a certified copy of a General Power of Attorney (By Registered Post) so I can act for my wifeto Customer Services along with a PL. I also detailed my wifes medical condition (which I can prove) and how the stress they are causing is making her ill. Not entirely relevant I know but it might panic someone. Tomorrow morning I am serving a copy of the POA on the branch manager and sending of the SAR. Am I on the right track?

Is State Pension an Income related benefit? My wife gets less than £30 pw and I get the rest in Pension Credit.

Hi everyone. This is not really about me, it is about my wife whohas been ripped off by NatWest. My wife is aged 63 and recieves some £28.65 per week pension into her bank account (Step UP Account) with NATWEST. This is her only source of income. Our other income is in the form of Pension Credit (paid to me in my account with Nationwide) plus a tiny amount of Army pension I get each month. My wife recently discovered EBay and consequently PayPal. She has been buying small items from EBay and paying for them via PayPal using her NATWEST Debit card. Around 8th of this month (May) she miscalculated and had insufficient funds to meet what she had purchased. She had £15.74 in her account, when PayPal sent in three Direct Debit requests, for £5.74, £6.99, and £11.50 respectively NATWEST decided to attempt to deduct the entire amount from her account by lumping the three rquests together, then when there was insufficient to meet the total declined all three and charged £38 for each, deducting £114 from her account. No warning letter was recieved by my wife. we discovered this four days later (12th May) when my wife tried to withdraw some money, her pension having been credited to her account that day. Of course the pension had been swallowed up. I would like to add here that my wife has a very serious heart condition which a few months ago resulted in major surgery. She is still very frail and has to take handfuls of tablets daily to keep her condition stable. She also has a very bad stammer that particularly manifests itself when she is anxious or when confronted with strangers or on the telephone. Therefore I tend to deal with such matters on her behalf. I immediately took her to the local branch in Northampton and we spoke to a very helpful lady at the customer service desk. We worked out what had happened and she was very sympathetic. She told us that she was unable to refund the charges at branch leveland would have to make a case to 'Head Office'. She also said that as far as she could see there was no bank error so could not promise a favourable outcome bus said she would try her best. She also agreed that she would talk to me on behalf of my wife (My wife gave verbal consebt). 48 hours later she rang to say that the charges had been refunded as had the pension that had been swallowed up and the original balance. However she went on to say that PayPal had represented the direct debits and therefore more charges had been levied that she was unable to get refunded. This was in spite of the fact that we had cancelled the direct debits at branch level. They still processed them even though they had been cancelled. My wife had also emailed PayPal to request that they not represent the Direct debits but they refused to cooperate. I rang them and arranged for my son to transfer sufficient funds to my wifes PayPal account to cover the Direct debits and it all stopped. I then wrote to Customer Services at NATWEST, explaining the situation, exp[laining that the situation had been remedied and asking that they sympathetically review the situation with a view to refunding the remaining charges. I also rang them. My wife spoke to them to give consent for me to deal with it, but they refused to talk to me without a power of attorney. They replied today as follows: "I was sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction ragarding the charges applied to your accou8nt and apologise for any upset that has been caused in this regard. The bank considers its charges to be fair, reasonable and transparent. having reviewed your account, the charges debited have been applied correctly and in accordance with our published tariff and as there has been no Bank error, I regret that I am not able to agree a refund for you on this occasion." They went on to state that they had enclosed booklets, which they had, assured me of their happiness to hep and signed it with a scribble over the title "Customer Services". I studied Law as part of a Combined Studies Degree at University, but this seems to be a nightmare. My wife is unable to sleep, dissolves in tears at the drop of a hat, and is constantly worried and anxious. I have spent several hours reading on this site and have prepared an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) for posting (thanks for the excellent template), if that is the correct thing to do? I have copy statement downloaded from the web also. We are on very limited income and already struggle to make ends meet, so that even the £10 fee for the SAR and possibly the Court fee will seriously dent our finances. I am not kidding here guys. Can anyone help? Would it help to get in touch with the Press or maybe Watchdog?