NatWest *******s
A right bunch of bankers.
Oh, has our unfair charge put you over the limit? Here, have another one! Hmm, & another!!!!!
This whole mess started due to a cheque from the joint account for £60something, which Ally wrote for her mobile (she was going to cover it when she got paid a couple of weeks later).
O2 did not receive the cheque when they should have, & then later asked Ally for payment, so she paid via an alternative method (but unfortunately didn't remember to cancel the cheque!
)
A couple of months later [mid-August], O2 finally found (or received) the cheque. And despite having already been paid for the bill, they promptly went to cash it anyway.
As this was not something which the two of us had budgeted for ('cos it wasn't supposed to go out!), there wasn't enough money in the account to cover the cheque – causing NatWest to charge us £38 for bouncing it, and then another £38 for bouncing it again a few days later.
The charges caused us to go over our agreed overdraft limit.
I put an extra £40 in the account to cover the first charge, when I first noticed it, so there should still then have been enough money for the two remaining bills: Sky & contents insurance. Sky cleared, insurance didn't (only a £9.87 DD!). I guess the actual cleared timings of the payments was off a bit.
They twice bounced the £9.87 insurance Direct Debit, charging us £38 each time. Unwilling to take £9.87 from our account so we could meet a Direct Debit payment, yet quite happy to take £76 instead.
So, we found ourselves down by £152, which we had not expected nor budgeted for.
And then, to make matters worse, we have received a letter containing “Pre-advice details of chargesâ€Â, which states that due to going over our agreed overdraft limit, we shall be charged a “maintenance charge†of £28 on the 28th September 2007 (not the best 30th birthday present for me!!!).
The only reason we went over our agreed limit was because NatWest chose to charge us 4 x £38 in bounce fees. Charging us again does not help the situation at all, and just puts us further in debt.
And, to make it even worse, I checked the account tonight, to find a £30 "Referral Charge for August" dated the 10th September.
A quick Google found it's for when NatWest choose to honour a payment which makes you go over your agreed limit.
Wonderful.
£38 + £38 + £38 + £38 + £30 + £28 = £210
Lovely. Just lovely. Well, it's not like we're trying to save for a wedding or anything, is it...
So, we're both v v angry, & skint, plus Ally feels really bad 'cos she forgot to cancel the damn cheque.
Advice anyone?
Write to them?
Phone them first?
Swallow it, seeing as the whole claim thing seems to be on hold anyway??