Suing Natwest, final stages now.

[kreeeee]

Ah, no... it might actually result in the DROPPING of bank charges.

I'm talking about fees, not charges. IF there are no repurcussions for going over your limit then the banks will have to start charging fees for you to have an account with them. Much like the special account we currently have.

[Sinizter]

Yep ... All go and sue their bank because you are not able to manage your finances.

The banks are going to be adding fees to compensate for their lost revenue from charging customers who go over their limit.

[Nick]

Yep ... All go and sue their bank because you are not able to manage your finances.

The banks are going to be adding fees to compensate for their lost revenue from charging customers who go over their limit.

Oh I just LOVE a sweeping statement... LOVE it.

So what you're saying is that I shouldn't sue my bank for charges that are blatantly unfair?

Paying a DD would've taken 22 PENCE overdrawn... yet the bank decided it was better to NOT pay the DD AND charge me £35 for it.

So, how has them not paying a DD cost them £35? Or anything NEAR £35?

Banks make their money by investing YOUR money... they make their money by charging interest to borrowers.

But they make far more money with stupid charges and rigid policies.

The thing is, if every bank dropped their charges and started charging a fee, you can be damn sure that ONE bank would have a fee free, no charge (or at least a sensible charge) account on offer.

If one bank does it, others will follow, and guess who wins? The customer.

More to the point, the people who are facing the most charges are the very people least able to pay them, people who, perhaps through no real fault of their own, can't help going overdrawn or find themselves in diminished financial circumstances... these are the very people to whom a £35 bank charge might mean the difference between eating one week or not.

The sooner the banks are reeled in a made to reduce their charges, the better and if enough people sue for refunds, the banks will wake up and react.

Consumer power has done it in the past... look at Coke's taste change, Desanni bottled water and even NatWest's famous u-turn on it's banking practises... all brought about by consumer reaction.

You want to make a bank change it's mind? Hit where it hurts by taking your money back.

[Bazzlad]

Yep ... All go and sue their bank because you are not able to manage your finances.

The banks are going to be adding fees to compensate for their lost revenue from charging customers who go over their limit.

Or we can all sue our banks because the charges they give you are illegal according to the watchdog and the OFT. How about that.

I got into an extremely bad spiral thanks to my bank, I had put a cheque in which hadn't cleared in 4 days (CHEQUES ARE THE BIGGEST JOKES IN THE WORLD, you think it takes 5 days to clear it? Or are the banks accruing interest?) I checked my account I had £4 available.

I went into Asda and bought a newspaper and can of pop £1ish. I also bought a sandwich from somewhere else £2.

Little did I know, but that money wasn't available (despite saying it on the screen) a company hadn't put it's transaction through (£5 - Sun dream team)

So this happened:
£5 Sun dream team came out - £30 unagreed borrowing fee
£1 Can of pop and paper came out - £35 card missue fee
£2 Sandwich came out - £35 card missue fee.

End of the month £35 Agreed overdraft limit exceed fee.

£135 for a can of pop, a paper and a sandwich, equaling less that £3???

It gets better, because (on weekly pay then) when my cheque cleared it was £100 short due to changes, my direct debits came out, and guess what?

I got hit with a £38 direct debit return fee, and a £20 charge from the company who's direct debit was coming out.

Total: £193 for £3 worth of goods.

If you think I'm in the wrong for suing you can off.

Did I mention?
Natwest Annual Group Revenue: £20.9 billion GBP.

And the thing I hate the most. You get a bill from anywhere, you can pay it in your own time. On the day, a week later whenever you can afford it. The bank unfairly hits you with an illegal fine, it comes out of your account. Instantly.

[harry1]

well said that man they are bastards for that downward spiral.

its un acceptable they dint realise some people dont have endless money in the account for fees

[chicken]

Yep ... All go and sue their bank because you are not able to manage your finances.

The banks are going to be adding fees to compensate for their lost revenue from charging customers who go over their limit.

Bank charges stop people being able to manage their finances by kicking them while they're down. As Nick said, banks supposedly make their money by investing yours, the fees give them additional profit, so they should be able to manage without them.

The worst case I've seen with charges is rather than just a bank, credit cards. If you have a DD setup for a credit card that is near it's limit and the DD fails, the bank charge you, the card company charge for missing a payment (without contacting you to see if you have any other way of paying first) then whack that charge onto your credit card, taking it over the limit, which they then charge you again for! All in all a slip-up like that can end up costing near £100... and it could all be because you were 20p short in your current account. Nice little money-making setup they've got there!

[Tom Scott]

All in all a slip-up like that can end up costing near £100... and it could all be because you were 20p short in your current account. Nice little money-making setup they've got there!

I'm not usually like this, but as you stated its down to YOU not having the 20p in your account.

If you have DDs setup then the company taking them will inform you of the charges to be taken 21 days beforehand. If you don't have the money in the relevant account how is that their problem? The CC company will charge you for late/non payment, as it is late and/or you didn't pay it. If you were going to go over the credit limit on your CC then you should have noticed that and paid it.

Now before I get flamed then yes I totally agree £35 is OTT, but I have never ever had a late payment charge, or bank fee in my life. I put this mainly due to the fact I know what is going out, and when its going out so I have money in the account. You should know whats going out so you shouldn't get charged...

Yes I agree that mistakes do happen, and mistakes have happened with Barcalys for me, but they've always been reasonable and sorted them.

[harry1]

i also agree with that, you should have the cash in your account regardless of the amount, but as said it can lead to more unfair charges

[Nick F]

Someone I know got £3k from Abbey for charges over the last 10 years.

Its well worth doing.

[[DW]Cougho]

This is well worth doing but i cant believe how many of you are getting stung time and time again, surely the 1st or 2nd time is enough to learn to not spend that last £10 on a cd and leave it in your account for when that evil DD comes out or actually get an agreed overdraft.

On the subject of charges working in the banking trade (sort of - credit card company) ive come to notice that the 2 worst banks for charges are natwest and abbey, i would certainly never go near the abbey with my own money. Barclays have always been good to me, and have refunded my friends overlimit charges many times as gestures of goodwill. (and no i dont work for barclays......... i work for barclaycard )

but dont own shares so this advice is impartial

[Lee H]

More to the point, the people who are facing the most charges are the very people least able to pay them, people who, perhaps through no real fault of their own, can't help going overdrawn or find themselves in diminished financial circumstances... these are the very people to whom a £35 bank charge might mean the difference between eating one week or not.

Halleujah - someone on the forum that actually sees things for how they are and not from their moral high-horse

I've had this happen on an occasion where the bank failed to clear a cheque in time and they made some cock and bull up to try and cover themselves.

They finally agreed to give me the funds back, but by the time they did I had been paid and was no longer scrapping the barrell.

[Bazzlad]

I'm not usually like this, but as you stated its down to YOU not having the 20p in your account.

Now before I get flamed then yes I totally agree £35 is OTT, but I have never ever had a late payment charge, or bank fee in my life. I put this mainly due to the fact I know what is going out, and when its going out so I have money in the account. You should know whats going out so you shouldn't get charged...

Yes I agree that mistakes do happen, and mistakes have happened with Barcalys for me, but they've always been reasonable and sorted them.

1) Did you read my story? Natwest were not reasonable in the slightest.
2) Is the fact you've never had a charge down to immaculate planning, or a high wage. A lot of people live on, or below the breadline, and these are the people charges affect the most.

[chicken]

By charging you over the odds for slipping up they make it harder for people to recover the next month.

As Bazzlad said it's not as easy for all of us as you (Tom Scott) seem to find it to recover from a £100 sting fast enough to not get hit next time around. For instance my wage is ok in an average sense, but where I live costs a fortune because of proximity to London, I can get a fully double glazed 4 bedroom house in Sheffield with a Spa for less than twice what my room costs here! Why stay here? Because I need the experience on my CV before I could even think of moving.

[Tom Scott]

I'll answer them in turn

a) Yes I did read your post. To be honest, you obviously knew the £5 was coming out, so you can't blame that on the bank, thats the Suns fault for not processing the transaction same day - they don't have access to your account so they can't budget for you. Debit card transactions can take a few days to "clear" off your balance - it may not even have been pre-authed depending on how they work.

I had put a cheque in which hadn't cleared in 4 days (CHEQUES ARE THE BIGGEST JOKES IN THE WORLD, you think it takes 5 days to clear it? Or are the banks accruing interest?) I checked my account I had £4 available.

Cheques do take 5 days to clear, whether you like it or not, they clearly state a 5 working day period - so you can't pin that on them I'm afraid. Barclays clear my cheques in 3-4 days now.

The charges were unfair (in amounts), but the principal of them isn't.

b) Its not immaculate planning, nor a high wage (unfortunately for me)... Its down to budgeting.

Now if you've not got the money in your account and you spend it, or you've not got enough to cover a DD or SO you knew was coming out, then you'll get charged. Fair enough the charges are over the top in value but the principal, in my opinion, is not unreasonable. The banks are hardly going to say "you didn't have enough in your account, or your AGREED overdraft limit, so we're just going to give you X amount of cash free to help you out for a while", otherwise what is the point in agreeing an overdraft limit in the first place.

You know the charges, and you how you're going to incur them. Barclays have refunded my friends charges for him being a day over his overdraft limit before a cheque cleared - so they're not unreasonable in that respect.

[Bazzlad]

Sorry mate, the OFT disagrees with you. And so do I.

I fully expected that Sun thing to have gone out. I also fully expected Natwest to understand and thus cancel some if not all of the charges. They didn't.

[Tom Scott]

The OFT doesn't, the OFT disagrees with the amounts charged (as do I), they don't say that banks shouldn't charge at all. Unless I have completely misinterpreted everything.