atomboy vs nat west

[atomboy]

(Sigh) Nat West used to be a good bank, at least it was to me before they were taken over by those people north of the border....

 

I had a business account with them as my main account and two other accounts for personal use. When they were taken over my business account manager was changed, the new one was uncontactable, or was an answering machine. I'm not sure which....In one month I had racked up over £800 in charges (ggrrrrrr). A 26 page letter of invective to head office brought an apologetic bank manager to my sitting room (and an £800 refund), and the conversation that followed was very enlightening. He insisted it was off the record.

 

At that time bank charges for going overdrawn on your debit card were in the news (we're in the late 1990's ). For example, you buy £20 of petrol on a debit card, the bank okays the transaction, but then penalises you if that transaction takes you overdrawn. Several small transactions like that in one day, when you're overdrawn and unaware of it, but the bank is permitting you to use your debit card and then charging you a hefty penalty each time you use it. The banks were minting ££ Or if you like, stealing money I hadn't even earned yet! ...My then bank manager said, (off the record of course), that the banks new exactly what they were doing, and that they had designed the whole system to generate as much money for them as possible as they were in business too.....Well, that changed my whole outlook...

 

It took several years to disentangle myself from NatWest, but I will take great satisfaction in getting money refunded from my closed accounts. So far they've fallen at the first hurdle and have not provided statements for my business account that I requested under the data protection act....so have sent off my letter before action today.....

Sorry for being so long winded....wish me luck ;-)

[Guest Niklowe]

Good luck, but you won't need it!

[atomboy]

Thank you Nik....

 

Today 17/10/06 I received a reply to my LBA regarding the Data Protection Act.

 

It was from Joyce E. Tudor of the Retail Regulatory Risk Dept.

It contained a strange paragraph regarding the reference to manual intervention in the template letter:

 

"With reference to your request concerning any 'manual intervention' to administrative charges debited, these charges have been processed in accordance with the terms and conditions of our current agreement with you as a result of activity on your account. In the event that you breech the terms and conditions, we will take the appropriate action, contacting customers when appropriate action, or handling customer enquiries regarding their account status. When a customer has raised a concern in relation to this process, the decision will be communicated to the customer and where appropriate noted on the account"

 

Now, I thought the manual intervention meant refunds of charges etc that were not automatically generated by the computer....Has she interpeted it to mean something else, or is it simply gibberish.....? Or is legal speak like Russian, just another language I don't understand ;-)

A puzzled/confused smiley icon would come in very handy right now.....(sigh)

...well, at least I had a quick response and they've said I'll have the missing statements ASAP....

[atomboy]

Seem to be going in circles with Nat West. The LBA Data protection request letter brought a quick response. I received the same lot of bank statements with the same information and bank statements missing and again they asked for the date the account was closed so that they can supply the missing information. I feel like I'm in that film Groundhog day.

 

I see in that it's possible to lodge a court claim against Nat West to supply the neccessary information. I'm wondering if it's possible to do that as well as claim from the Information Commissioner. Or are you only allowed to take one route? Would love to give them a double whammy....

[atomboy]

I've let this one slide because it will be a lot of work when I gather all the information together. But now with the news that we can go back more than 6 years it will become really worthwhile pursuing. I've had my business account with them since about 1984...Hopefully they'll provide me with info going back that far....Sent off my SAR today. There is a personal account and both Nat West Credit cards Access & Visa that I'll be claiming for later on too.

[hedgey06]

Good luck atomboy.......... nothing ventured, nothing gained!!!!

[Parkvale]

atomboy, The best advice is to stick to your time table http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31460-example-step-step-instructions.html and don't let them spin you. Nat West are masters of spin. They will try to deter you at every stage.Don't forget its your money, unlawfully taken from your account. Which you have a legal right to claim back.

Good luck.

[atomboy]

I'm gob-smacked to say the least -

Had this claim running against NatWest for £5,373.38 in 2008....I stopped pursuing it when the court judgment was in favour of the banks. At that point in time Nat West had made an offer of £1066 in full and final settlement. I never responded as the court passed judgement at that point and received a letter from Nat West saying (essentially) that as a result of the claim there was no point in proceeding further and the case is closed.

After no correspondence in three years....today I received a letter from Nat West that reads -

 

"A recent review of our records has revealed that sometime ago you made a complaint to the Bank claiming a refund of unarranged overdraft charges.

 

The Bank fully investigated your complaiont and made an offer to refund £1066 on 12 Nov 2008. To date the bank has not received a response to this offer.

 

In order to bring this matter to a conclusion the Bank is prepared to extend the acceptance date of this offer to 21 days from the date of this letter. Please be advised that if we do not hear from you within 21 days from the date of this letter our offer will be withdrawn and your file will be closed. I should also advise you that the Bank will only refund the amount offered and new claims for unarranged overdraft charges will not be considered.

 

Please regard this letter as our final response to your complaint. If you are unhappy with our decision then you have the right to refere your complaint to the FOS etc, etc,......etc."

 

Don't quite know what to make of this - I see you've started a petition to get this Gov't to act on what they said in opposition regarding bank charges (which I've signed).

Is there something going on I should know about? Is the campaign starting up again? Is this the bank trying to get a settlement done and dusted before a whole new campaign against them starts? Should I accept the offer or hold out for the £5,373.38?

 

Valuing your input as always......

Thanks

Atom

[patrickq1]

HI ATOM WELCOME BACK,

damm capslock lol.. i would not be prepared to settle with this lot they have not changed one iota and are still upto their old tricks, it may be worth going to the OFT and FOS i am thinking the unfair business practices ,and since it was never explained to you the full consequences of going over the aggreed account limit ,and also they were allowing you to continue to run up a debt that you were unaware of the consequences of the higher charging rates, also dont forget if you have had a letter from them check the account number as it may have changed to a router account ? so check the account number especially if it has come from telford as we call it telfordgate these hidden accounts rack up debts that you will be unaware of , seeing as they are willing to give a pittance of what you are owed then fight your corner dude ..

ive been waiting for a letter from them since 1993 hehe , they might ask for the intrest on 12500 ,fat chance they will get a penny from me they owe me a business and a considerable lot more than 12500 ...long long story see my thread patrick v morgan stanley ,,, got that thread all muxed up , nway go for it atom press them for more i am sure they have not taken it lightly to offer 1 fth of what is owed ...

patrickq1

[atomboy]

Thanking you Patrick.....

 

Had to do a bit of digging round in my files but the offer of £1066 is full compensation for charges up to 6 years ago - The full amount of £5373 is claiming back everything I have records for possibly to 1997.

Thinking I may take the offer of £1066 unless anyone can think of a reason not to....Could certainly do with the money to payy for a new clutch right now.....

[patrickq1]

yes i know its hard ,if you do accept the offer ,just say you accept the offer as part payment and not the full and final settlement figure.

patrickq1

[atomboy]

That was helpful Patrick. ...crossed out 'in full and final settlement' and replaced it with 'in part payment'.....let's see what happens.....

[atomboy]

This is turning quickly into farce, if it wasn't one already....just had a reply from Nat West today saying;

 

" Thank you for returning the signed acceptance enclosed with my colleagues letter that offered you a goodwill gesture for you account as shown above.

Unfortunately this payment cannot be completed as you have failed to accept the clause to reduce any outstanding borrowing you have with the bank.

This claim has been deemed void and the offer is now withdrawn. Yours sincerely...."

 

Well, the account was closed over 5 years ago. There was no outstanding borrowing. The clause I refused to accept was regarding whether the payment was in full settlement of my claim. I'm left wondering how these people can manage to hold a job?

 

I'll be writing back pointing out the account was closed and there was no outstanding balance, just to see what happens.....

[patrickq1]

No do not write back,dont be goaded into making a mistake, now your next letter shall be a letter before action , you will find this in the help files ,also you shall now inform them that you have decided no more Ping Pong letters ,your complaint shall now be forwarded to the FOS for them to consider the legitimate claim you know if worthwhile persuing and also considering taking legal action due to the FACT that their was no outstanding balance ,i would advise that this go to a senior manager to consider the innabilty of their staff to do reasonable checks to this closed account you are a patient person and feel the person handling this account is being more than dishonest with the truth that i am owed a considerable amount of monies and i request an internal reveiw from a senior manager , i shall procceed with a legal case within 21 days unless i hear good news from your bank..

use some of the words above but dont fly of the handle just act an a calm and collected manner but be forcefull and let them know you are working to a deadline

patrickq1

dont forget all post to the banks must be registered,

before you post phone the bank ask to speak with the writer of the letter and confront them with you want to speak with their senior manager

[patrickq1]

just remember you are THE BOSS YOU ARE IN CHARGE ans speak down to them like they are schoolkids cause they certainly have not earned your respect