Nationawide are THE worst bank EVER!

[queenamandababy]

Hi

 

Hope someone can help!

 

I have two accounts with nationwide. A flex account and a cash builder savings account. I have been charged £300 in charges on the flex account. I have recently sent a subject to access letter showing my intention to claim these charges back.

 

I have just been to the bank to withdraw money from my savings account. The machine swallowed my card! I went inside the bank to ask what was going on. They have said they will not give me my money from the savings account. However, were willing to give me £20 of my savings if I put the rest of the savings into the Flex account to clear the overdraft of charges! I told them that I am currently claiming the charges back.

 

Basically, not only are Nationwide charging me for an overdraft made up of overdraft charges. But now they have stopped me accessing my savings and telling me I have to pay these charges with it.

 

Surely this is not legal. They are two separate accounts in my eyes!

 

Please can someone help me so I can get my savings!

 

[badmuthar]

Sounds a bit off to me.

As you say the overdraft is self perpetuating based on the charges applied and I think you should still be able to access your savings. Will be interested to see what happens.

[queenamandababy]

I'm absolutely livid! They were actually bargaining with me in the bank. The bare faced cheek!

 

I hope someone can help!

[dingwalldemon]

Your Savings account is seperate. I think you should tell them you deem the flex account to be in dispute due to unlawfull charges levied upon it. Withdraw everything from the savings account and open a new one elsewhere. They cannot refuse you this money as this account is not affected. Tell them to pass your Flex account onto their collection department and once they get in touch again reitterate the account is in dispute. Get the statements tallied up, the per-lim letter in and the L.B.A sent. Time is of the essence. And if you do not want to go to court go to the ombudsman explaning what NW have/are doing. You need only prove to the ombudsman that you have attempted to reclaim the money yourself before they get involved so send them copies of the letters u sent the bank and their replies.

P.s open a parachute current account asap and send everything recorded deliv.

Good luck

[trickyt]

Nationwide are the worst bank ever? Well they do say that 'They are proud to be different'. I cannot believe that they have the nerve to stop you from accessing YOUR money that is held in trust in YOUR savings account. I would take this matter to the FOS. You can download and fill in the complaint form on-line and then submit it on-line using their web site.

Good Luck;)

Trickyt

[indebtstudent]

A few pointers first Nationwide aren't a bank. Its a minor issue but it does make people look a little silly...

 

I do beleieve there are conditions which say the bank or buidling society can freeze other accounts. I honestly do not know the status of this part of the terms and conditions, I can imagine situations in which it could be a good idea (fraud and money laundering for example). Perhaps somebody with more experience can provide further info on this?

 

Also I would stress that there is no point taking it out on front line staff, they do not have the power to do anything about these charges and I can assure you that many STILL have no idea how much the facts are on the side of consumers here.

[trickyt]

Hi there, just wanted to say to you that as you are disputing the charges on your flexaccount and the matter is now also being looked into in the High Court test case I can see no way that they can take money from a savings account that you opened with them in trust. For Nationwide to try to do that seems to be a punitive action. It is the disputed charges that have left you with the overdaft problem in the first place so if they were to take legal action against you to sieze money from your savings account

you should be able to defend yourself against this because of the dispute over the flexaccount. I would still suggest a complaint to the FOS about this matter.

Cheers.....Trickyt:)

[Docman]

I've got a dispute with Nationwide over excessive overdraft charges on a FlexAccount and also a credit card account. They claimed both were separate when I tried to complain about unauthorised payments from the Flex account to the credit card.

I let them sue me and guess what. Nationwide now claim the accounts are not separate! I'm having trouble getting documents out of them for the Court case. Good thing is that the judge is also getting fed up. He's threatened to throw out their claim for £3k and as I have counterclaimed £1800 for overdraft charges, I could get judgement against them.

As FOS is not dealing with bank charges cases at the moment, I think that any complaint involving bank charges will be put on hold. But it wouldn't harm issuing a complaint anyway. Just don't expect to get anywhere with it for the next three years!

I suggest you write directly to Nationwide HQ and demand the full amount in your savings account be paid to you. When they refuse, issue a Letter Before Action demanding BOTH the overdraft charges and the balance in the savings account. When they decline, just issue a claim in the county court for both amounts. Don't accept any story about Nationwide applying to the court for an adjournment and object strongly if they do apply for an adjournment.

Keep smiling!