Mis-sold Advantage Gold account

[Meteor58]

I don't know if anybody else has tried this, but I could do with some advice.

 

I was sold an Advantage Gold account upgrade when I took out a loan with my local NatWest branch back in June 2001. With the Gold account I was entitled to a discount off the loan interest rate which, after the £6 monthly charge, still worked in my favour. I was told all the other benefits of the account, including travel insurance and other similar things. For various reasons, I said I was not interested in the other perks, just the rate discount. I was left with the firm impression that I would enjoy the rate discount as long as I had the gold account.

 

Fast forward to March 2008, the monthly charge has crept up to £12, finances are tight and I ask in branch "How much will my loan payments increase if I cancel the Gold account?" The surprised cashier replies "Not at all".

 

So I have paid £700 for nothing.

 

Initially I decided I may have mis-understood the original information, so did not pursue the matter until my daughter was caught out in exactly the same manner.

 

We have both complained to NatWest about being mis-sold the product and have both received a "gesture of goodwill" payment of half the amount claimed within 14 days. The rapid, semi-positive, response has surprised me as I was expecting a repeat of the delay and obstruction with my unfair bank charges a few years back.

 

Has anyone pursued the NatWest further than this and got all their money back? They have invited me to contact them if I am still not happy (and thence to the Ombudsman if necessary). I will of course mark any response noting their part payment as "without prejudice".

 

Any advice or thoughts gratefully received.

 

Alan.

Edited October 19, 2009 by Meteor58
Clarified title

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Bump

[Trilby274]

Haven't been on the site for months (blush) sorry. But this has caught my eye as we also took a NatWest personal loan and were told pretty much the same thing. When we went for a top-up loan, I asked about the Advantage Gold option we had, as I didn't see any reason to continue it. We were told that we could opt out - and I did - verbally, but we are still on an Advantage Gold account.

 

My fault, as I should have chased it up at the time. Having seen this, I will now and see what happens. Thanks for the pointer!

Edited October 21, 2009 by Trilby274
Oops

[2Grumpy]

My son was persuaded to "upgrade" to an advantage gold account that was not to his advantage. NW refunded all of the charges (with little effort) when I complained. They just needed the facts laid out logically.

It sounds as though you were misled into getting the account

 

Would the Sale of Goods Act apply to either account?

Edited October 25, 2009 by 2Grumpy

[Meteor58]

Thanks for your feedback Trilby274 & 2Grumpy, I will be writing to the bank today asking for the rest of the money back.

 

Will post result here too.

 

Alan.