Natwest - can someone help me?

[cymruambyth]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Hi cookie, sorry to hear that things have been rough for the last few weeks. You will always be welcome that is the joy of AAD.

As you know, don't fill in an I&E!

As Niddy said, can you give a brief synopsis of the FOS complaint?

[cookie2112]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Ahh thank you so much - I have been a bit worried about coming back on and asking for help when it would've appeared that I have been AWOL for ages!

Will get something posted up later to cover the points raised - at work at the moment so will have to do it later!

Thanks again

[IF]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

I'm sorry to hear of the month you have had and send big hugs Cookie

[nanna58]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Welcome home cookie x

[IF]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Do pop in the Bar for a chat when you can Cookie

[MrsD]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Ahh thank you so much - I have been a bit worried about coming back on and asking for help when it would've appeared that I have been AWOL for ages!

Will get something posted up later to cover the points raised - at work at the moment so will have to do it later!

Thanks again

don't be daft!!! we're here for you when you need us, life happens! all the time!

we'll set one up on the bar for you, just take your time and get everything sorted out.

[cookie2112]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Thank you so much MrsD - I will look forward to joining you at the bar, have definitely missed you all

Working on my overview of what has happened with NW at the moment so hope to have something posted tonight/tomorrow!

[IF]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Thank you so much MrsD - I will look forward to joining you at the bar, have definitely missed you all

[cookie2112]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Welcome home cookie x

Do pop in the Bar for a chat when you can Cookie

Thank you all - you are all amazingly lovely people and I hope you are all well - will be at the bar tonight! x

[cookie2112]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Ok, this is a long post which I hope is what is needed!

Overview:

I will start this overview from when I joined AAD as there was communication prior but nothing was ever resolved.

• May 2013 – SAR request sent to NW
• NW Used £10 SAR money to then default the account in Sept 2013
• NW started to instruct DCA’s – latest being Robinson Way
• May 2014 – Passed to FOS & informed RW it was with FOS following latest chase letter
• 27 May 2014 – FOS pass to NW, giving 8 weeks to resolve
• 22 July 2014 – 8 weeks on – nothing in writing from NW
• 23 July 2014 – Letters from RW have recommenced in various forms (including one which says they have been informed by NW that the issue is now resolved!!)

I think the following will be the main bits that you would need to see:

My complaint to FOS was:

The account was opened originally in 2000 and was used regularly until around 2009, at which point we opened a new account with our mortgage providers and this account was then no longer used.

In 2010 it became apparent that charges had been being applied to the now un-used account and as there was a lot of media information at the time relating to reclaiming bank charges, my initial correspondence at that time with Natwest was to complain over the unfair bank charges, I requested a copy of 6 years statements which they provided and I calculated the amount of charges and wrote to them asking them to refund them, they refused and I wrote to them again asking them to freeze the account as it wasn't in use and I felt them continuing to apply charges was unfair, particularly whilst we were 'discussing' the charges that had already applied to the account.

The stress of this situation, as I did not have the monies they were demanding, left me no other option than to cash in my pension at work to get all of my contributions back to pay off the £2,000 of charges which I thought cleared the account completely. Unfortunately it appears it had not completely cleared the account and they have since been applying more and more charges relating to an unarranged overdraft, so they are now stating that I owe nearly £2,300.

In May 2013, I sent a Subject Access Request to them and to date they have still not sent me any information, although they have acknowledged receipt of my request. Since then they have sent several demand letters and passed this to at least 3 DCA’s, all without sending me the information requested in the SAR.

In September 2013 they filed a default on my credit record despite the fact this was still being disputed and they had still not sent me the information requested in my SAR letter, making it impossible for me to even discuss the matter with them.

They have since applied a further 5 default markers on my credit record, to date there has never been any contractual monthly payments made and based on this fact, I understand that (taking into consideration the ICO Technical Guidance on Issuance of Default Markers & Notices) the account should not be generating recurring markers but should in fact be defaulted (within 6 months of the first default (missed payment) occurring on the account) which – if a default is actually appropriate in this instance given their failure to comply with legislation - means the record should be changed to a Default status with a default date around August/September 2010.

As an estimate, which is all I can give without the appropriate data, I would calculate they have so far applied at least £6,000 worth of charges and interest – add to this that I have also lost 2 years of both mine and my employers contributions into my pension and my inability now to get a new mortgage deal (which will have an long term effect on my family’s financial security) - as you can imagine I feel this situation is completely unfair and badly dealt with by Natwest. I cannot even begin to explain to you the years of stress and worry over this, during some difficult financial times for my family and the risk of redundancy, only made even worse with this hanging over us.

At the same time I complain to Experian about the markers on my file and they responded with their own justification for the default makers and then the following ‘outcome’ from their communication with RBS:

Dear Cookie2112

I have received a reply to the query we raised on your behalf for your Natwest account started XX/XX/2000.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group confirm the details we hold are accurate.

They ask that we keep the information on our database and they have provided the following comments as well:

"Hi, having investigated the dispute in full, we can confirm that the default date and data has been updated correctly on the customers credit files. We can see there is an ongoing complaint with the bank, should the customer wish to query this further please get them to involve this within the complaint."

I cannot change this information without their authorisation.

Within the next 28 days the following statement will be removed from your credit report:

"The consumer has disputed the accuracy of this entry and we have therefore asked the provider to investigate it. Given that this data is disputed, please take care if making an assessment of any kind that may include this data."

If you would like there to continue to be a dispute statement on this information, I can add the statement below:

"The consumer has disputed the accuracy of this entry. Given that this data is disputed, please take care if making an assessment of any kind that may include this data."

Please let me know by return if you would like this statement to be added to your report, where it will then remain until we receive further instruction from you.

Alternatively, you may wish to add your own statement to this entry on your report. If you would like to add a 'Notice of Correction' to your credit report, please let us know, in writing, the exact wording you would like to use. We cannot add a statement that is longer than 200 words or one we think is defamatory, frivolous, scandalous or unsuitable for publication for some other reason.

If you wish to dispute this further, you will need to contact them directly.

Their contact details are:

Customer Assistance Team,
Birmingham Collections Centre,
Retail Banking Operations - Debt Management Operations,
Business Services,
4th Floor, 7-10 Brindley Place,
Birmingham,
B1 2TZ

You may want to provide documents to the company directly to support your comments as this can help them to resolve your dispute.

Please be assured that should the company send us any further instructions regarding this matter, we will act upon them accordingly.

Kind regards

I hope all of that is what you wanted me to do - let me know if you need anything else.

So, what do you think??

I want to go back to FOS and then respond to RW with a ‘it is not resolved’ letter and then contact Experian to try get something sorted for the credit file – am not sure what order to do these things in, nor am I sure what I should be saying to each of them!

As always, any help/advice would be gratefully received!

[cymruambyth]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Hi cookie, thanks for the précis. Unfortunately I can't help on this, but If has requested help for you.

[cookie2112]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Thanks Cym and IF

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

I'll help you with this in morning. Let me read back and re-familiarise myself ok?

Don't stress over it too much.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Ok, I've read your main detailed post above - thanks. However, please clarify the following points for me;

1. What is the actual balance being asked for by the bank / dca?
2. When you ceased using the account was it in credit, a 0 balance or was the account overdrawn?
3. With respect to the SAR; you stated above that the fee (£10) was added to the o/d account - is this accurate or a presumption?
4. Your Experian record; does it show (for example) 1,2,3,4,5,6 in the months preceding the default entry?

The answers to the above will help me a lot. Thanks.

Your complaint is confusing. Are you arguing then, bear with me on this quick synopsis, that your account should have been closed back in 2009 with no default? If so then you'll gather by my 4 questions above that that's the first thing I'm looking at HOWEVER If you were even 1p overdrawn in 2009 then your complaint will fail. ONLY if the bank made you go from a positive state (in credit) to a negative state (overdrawn) will your complaint hold any merit.

If I'm misunderstanding please elaborate but based on your post above that's how I read the general basis of the complaint

[cookie2112]

Re: Natwest - can someone help me?

Ok, I've read your main detailed post above - thanks. However, please clarify the following points for me;

1. What is the actual balance being asked for by the bank / dca?
2. When you ceased using the account was it in credit, a 0 balance or was the account overdrawn?
3. With respect to the SAR; you stated above that the fee (£10) was added to the o/d account - is this accurate or a presumption?
4. Your Experian record; does it show (for example) 1,2,3,4,5,6 in the months preceding the default entry?

The answers to the above will help me a lot. Thanks.

Your complaint is confusing. Are you arguing then, bear with me on this quick synopsis, that your account should have been closed back in 2009 with no default? If so then you'll gather by my 4 questions above that that's the first thing I'm looking at HOWEVER If you were even 1p overdrawn in 2009 then your complaint will fail. ONLY if the bank made you go from a positive state (in credit) to a negative state (overdrawn) will your complaint hold any merit.

If I'm misunderstanding please elaborate but based on your post above that's how I read the general basis of the complaint

Hi Niddy and thanks for your message, Sorry if the information was confusing, I will answer your questions as best I can....

1. They are now asking for £2,254.47

2. I stopped using the account years ago, believing it to be at zero balance, only to discover later that they had applied many charges totalling approx. £2k. I paid this off but stupidly didn’t close the account and I guess I hadn’t completely cleared the balance, hence this amount of charges being accrued on the account again. I wrote to them many times before I came onto AAD claiming unfair charges and asking them to freeze the account but they basically ignored me.

3. I thought I had seen the £10 credit somewhere but just had a look through and can’t see it now – and as they will not send me the information from my SAR request I am having trouble confirming anything

4. Just checked Experian and I now have 10 reoccurring markers from NW, I took a screenshot but don't seem able to upload it here.

Based on your last paragraph, do you think I am fighting a losing battle and I am going to have to pay them again?