Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be OUTRAGED by this comment regarding NatWest

137 replies

BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 16:02

"I understand from the news that the software problem was fixed very quickly but it appears to have taken much longer to deal with the complications that arose from this problem. Now Im obviously very sympathetic with the people who were without cash but surely they dont live from week to week do they? They should always keep some cash in reserve,just a few hundred pounds maybe and also why could they not get cash out on their charge or credit card?"

On another forum I post on. I'm thinking about boycotting it once I've flamed the living daylights out of the poster

How can people be so ignorant of the tight money situation that many people are in?

OP posts:
ethelb · 26/06/2012 17:11

@FioFio no its not their fault, and as i have said I am affected by this too. but there does seem to be a sense of absolutly no personal responsibilty surrounding risk management.

mind you my DP was surprised at the amount of time I spend banking and reviewing my spending to make sure stuff is there when we moved in together. maybe i am wierd Confused

FioFio · 26/06/2012 17:14

but it's affecting people who account for every last penny and please don't be naive enough to think those in the middle aren't struggling right now as well. WE are in a recession

sue52 · 26/06/2012 17:29

I've been a victim both of a mugger and a bag snatcher. I never carry more than £10 in cash and there is never more than about £50 in my home.

FioFio · 26/06/2012 17:32

but sue, do you have a credit card? or does your cat have one?

Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 17:34

Ethelb, yes I see that I didn't state that. No doubt, there are people who could have had an emergency fund, but didn't. This banking problem is quite unusual though - would you have predicted it?

OP posts:
Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 17:38

I do keep a small amount of cash at home, but even that makes me nervous. But ethelb does have a point, in that if you CAN it is sensible to have some easily accessible funds to fall back on. I think the whole thing has just taken people completely by surprise.

OP posts:
scottishmummy · 26/06/2012 17:40

is this you traisping a gripe from thread to thread
stop being such a drama queen, and ohh ah she said dat,can you believe it

Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 17:41

Scottishmummy, who was that directed at?

OP posts:
FioFio · 26/06/2012 17:42

it was directed at sue52s cat

scottishmummy · 26/06/2012 17:42

you bumping gums about another forum,another poster

Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 17:43

Ok, over my head that one.

OP posts:
Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 17:45

It was a comment on an entirely different site, quoted much as you would do with a newspaper article or comment in real life. What's the problem?

OP posts:
scottishmummy · 26/06/2012 17:46

all the c&p they said this,said that.juvenile
how very gosh..have these people no shame
so you're traipsing gripes from another forum and posting here in full indignation.how petty

FioFio · 26/06/2012 17:47
Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 17:48

Well, sorry you feel that way. I don't see debating a relevant topical statement as juvenile. If you see it as "traipsing gripes", then that's your opinion.

OP posts:
Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 18:25

Sue, sorry to hear that happened to you.

FioFio, yes many are struggling and I appreciate it's those in the middle too, as you say.

OP posts:
ethelb · 26/06/2012 18:53

to be honest i have had experience of banks failing me, a month after I graduated Barclays lost a whole wodge of my cash and took ages to recover it. I also had Natwest leave me without a card for 3 months once so yes I am prepared for a variety of banking fuck ups that don't cost much iei arranged overdraft and credit card (that isn't used v often)

i am surprised at the lack of will by some people to risk manage though. i have contents insurance and I kind of see it as an extension of that.

Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 19:11

I see why you're so keen on risk management ethelb. I'm sure most people do what they can with the resources they have. What happened at Barclays?

OP posts:
LucieMay · 26/06/2012 19:13

Ha! Some people have only "a few hundred pounds" to last them months. People are stupid.

sue52 · 26/06/2012 19:14

FioFlo, of course I have a credit card. No cat, just 2 well fed dogs whose finances I manage. My point was, past experiences have made me stop carrying cash and should anything happen to my bank's accounting systems I would have only a few quid to fall back on.

ethelb · 26/06/2012 19:16

I had a postgrad loan at Barclays and they lost the payments. It was about £800 in the end. Natwest (my current account holder) stepped in and sorted it out. ie had the name of their head of banking fuckups and wrote a long letter to them demanding they stopped pissing about. And they did.

Barclays excuse was that they didn't train their staff to deal with that kind of problem Shock interestingly enough that's Natwest's excuse this time, so you can't really escape it.

TBF Natwest cancelling a card for no reason and failling to replace it for 3 months the day before a holiday when I as a student running on fumes was actualy more of a ball ache.

ethelb · 26/06/2012 19:24

plus another point about overdrafts and debt. yes it is debt, but to use a real life example to explain why it is better to have an overdraft than to not have one:

tomorrow our rent is due. DP started a new job three weeks ago and his payment date has changed. To the day after tomorrow. He failed to inform me of this until last weekend and we have to provide the agent with one weeks notice if we can't pay and they refuse to change due dates. However, there is no point in us changing the dates as this is the last month of our tenency at this place and our rent due date etc will change from next month.

If we didn't have an overdraft then the amount would bounce and we would be in arrears with our rent. However, as we are going to use [a bit of] the overdraft for ONE DAY we won't be in debt for any more than a couple of hours and our credit rating etc will remain in tact. If we had no overdraft facility we would have gone into arrears and had to pay both a bounced payment fee and a fine for late rent payment.

Its not the case that by not having an overdraft we would have debt, it is that if we didn't we would have more!

edam · 26/06/2012 19:39

That's all very well if you have an arranged overdraft that you don't use. Not everyone has. For many people, their financial circumstances have got much worse, and they are up or close to the limit every month.

dh and I both bank with RBS and money is very tight as dh has been out of work since December. My wages were paid in but didn't show up. We had to survive the weekend on the cash I had in my purse. We were due to do a big supermarket shop as soon as I got paid but were scrabbling around trying to work out the minimum we needed to get through the weekend - three tins of catfood instead of 24 sachets (which works out more expensive per serving). Tricky as we had visitors so needed more food than usual. Took me two lots of lengthy phone calls on Monday to get access to my wages because they managed to stuff up the action they promised they'd take from the first phone call.

Original poster
BumpingFuglies · 26/06/2012 19:45

Take your point, ethelb. What would you have done if you couldn't use an overdraft though? I've found myself stuck in this position too, and if you can't get credit you end up defaulting elsewhere.

OP posts:
Jux · 26/06/2012 19:45

I had an email from NatWest saying that they would give people access to £100 over what their cards allowed them until it was sorted out (and no charges, obviously). Can't remember the ins and outs of it, but people could get cash, afaics if they needed it.

However, I do agree with you, op. it's a ridiculous comment.