Caz & Natwest Complaint

[Caz1974]

Hi again everyone

Lastyear I successfully reclaimed my bank charges from the Natwest but my claim dragged on and whilst the account was in dispute they added on defaults,extra charges,harrassed me by telephone,withdrew my overdraft then when the refund was actually paid they closed my account ( well they say they haven't closed it they left £1 in the balance and refused to send me any statements for the last four month period when my claim was ongoing - I also haven't recieved any statements to this date ).

I have wrote to them on numerous occassions about obtaining my statements or a list of all activities on my account from December 2007 - April 2007 and I've never even recieved a letter back.

I have telephoned and been told that the account no longer exists and as such no statements will be forthcoming.

I have saved all my correspondance and plan to put together a full and comprehensive complaint to the FOS but have a few questions first...

How can I go about obtaining the data I need, I feel I am banging my head against a brick wall with this one? (I need to know what exactly happened to my account in those few months to enable me to complain fully)

Is there anywhere that I can go to read about retalitory actions by a bank when an account is in dispute?

Any ideas about the best way forward with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Caz1974]

I'm wondering whether the easiest route for my info would be a S.A.R again but this means that in total they will have recieved £25 from me just for my own info ( £10 original SAR £5 they added on to my account the day they sent out those statements and this one).

Any advice out there tonight?

[hedgey06]

Ello flumpie!!!

 

Had to read your post a few times - I seriously cannot believe they're still giving you the runaround with this account. How downright rude!

 

Firstly, how they can possibly refuse to send you account statements for the last 4 months that your account was in dispute is ridiculous. It's your account, you're entitled to see the information. OK, the account may not exist any longer................ but you're still entitled to receive the statements that you should have had whilst the account was open.

 

I know it's a pain, but I'd be inclined to send them another SAR babe. That way, if they don't comply you can hit them for non-compliance and it adds to the information that you're putting together for the complaint to the FOS as well.

 

Fingers crossed that this works xxx

[Caz1974]

Thanks Hedgey I've already been out and bought a £10 postal order I couldn't see any other way either xxxx

[hedgey06]

Nice one honey! All the more evidence for your complaint if they don't comply to the 'official' letter! xxx

[Caz1974]

Morning all

S.A.R sent whilst I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for the info to come I am starting to prepare parts of my complaint to the FOS.

Briefly this is what happened during my claim for bank charges...

I began claiming in December 2006, I had an authorised overdraft with the Natwest of £200 and agreed a monthly repayment of £40 a month ( this was clarified in writing ).But within 24 hours of my S.A.R being signed they began to add charges which added up to £78 month - I rang and wrote explaining that I had a payment plan in place and the amount owed on the account was in dispute so could they please re instate my payment plan and refund the charges for that month - they refused!

They then went on to cancel my plan the withdraw my overdraft facility because I refused to pay £40 a month when at the end of each month it left a minus £38 amount which levied more interest and carried charges over to the next month.

I wrote several times again to explain the amount of charges levied on my account was far more than what the overdraft was and could they please hold action on my account. They wrote back to say all actions on the account would be frozen.( January)

In the meantime my data was retained by the Natwest until March 2007.

My account was then passed to their collection centre in Birmingham ( Feb 2007 ) I recieved a letter asking for my switch card back and any relevant cheque books etc. ( obviously actions had not been frozen and charges were obviously being added because the amount on this letter had shot up tremendously).

Statements stopped coming in December and when I rang them about this I was informed that I had requested yearly ones ( news to me so I requested my statements there and then ).

I rang again about statements I was told they would be sent within the next 28 days ( I kept the time of the call and who I spoke to as a record)

I recieved a refund for the charges on 11th March 2007 for the full amount I had claimed for in December but the overdraft completely swallowed it and it left a £1 balance.

I rang and again and complained about not now having the use of my account and asked why they had closed it.

I was given the reply that it had not been closed because it had a £1 balance ( but how can I use that balance if they had taken my switch card and books back ) I was told that " well you were passed to the collections centre so there's nothing I can do about that".

Is this how they get away with saying they haven't closed an account thus stopping me from making a claim against them for doing so?

In April 2007 I wrote again for my statements but I never recieved a reply and by the time the summer came I felt defeated and down hearted and gave up - will this go against me?

When I do eventually get my statements will I be able to ask the FOS to look at the amount they levied on my account whilst it was in dispute from December to were they left me a £1 balance in March? ( I couldn't carry on my claim because they had retained my data or do I have to make a seperate claim to the Bank again for this period? Would it be a good idea to seek compensation through the court due to the data retention issue?

Sorry for babbling on but I want to make my complaint as clear as possible are there any specific banking code, data protection or general snippets of the consumer law that will back up any of the above points?

Which other organisations could I lodge this complaint with ? Because far too many times I have read on the thread about Natwest's underhanded tactics and feel fired up to make a stand:D

I know there's a lot of points on this one but I do feel I was treated unfairly and strongly feel that the bank used retaliatory actions because I was reclaiming my charges.

[Caz1974]

OOOOoo also I've just aquired a copy of my credit file and Natwest added a default on it for this account In Feb 2007!

[indebtstudent]

Erm why not complain to the information commissioner. £10 should cover all of your data.

[Caz1974]

Student I intend to complain to anyone who will listen but firstly I want to send the whole complaint to Natwest just to see their response and explanation:D

I recieved a letter today saying that my SAR wasn't signed OOOo de ja vuuuuu! lol I got out my filed copy and it was signed correctly and all in order.

I sent them a photocopy of this and a big signature covering a page of A4. I also wrote in bold that please be reminded that I have again paid £10 for this info ( photocopied my P/O receipt ) and kindly informed them the next letter I should recieve should be my info and not a letter from them asking for a £10 payment.

Anyone getting the jist that I've been here before ? ( cheeky grin )