to leave natwest

[TheQueenOfDiamonds]

I've been with natwest for 7 years.
In the time that I have been with them I have found them completely unhelpful.

The last couple of years its got worse - A so called friend emptied my account. I was called a liar over it and made to feel like some whining scrounger for wanting my own money back. It never got resolved.

I don't have an overdraft, never have done. Obviously having a family and a house to run I now have bills, and a few times I've gone a couple of pounds (never more than a fiver) overdrawn. I'm charged £30 a time for this.

I ask for an overdraft to fall back on. I am told no, because you have had charges (all paid on time I should add). But I wouldn't have unarranged overdraft charges if you give me an overdraft. Tough. Still no.

OHs car broke. I asked for a loan. Only £1000, their minimum loan ammount. No.

Now, I know another bank isn't forced to do any of this either, but tbh, I just feel resentful towards them. I've never owed them money, I've always paid their ridiculous UOD charges on time, I'd never asked for anything in 7 years. They're never helpful.

Yet again I'm sat up worrying. To top it off, apparently somewhere along the line before I met OH I've had an overpayment of housing benefit and owe them £1400. I didn't realise what I was filling in when the man came to see me about it. He never actually told me I owed that much (I think he thought I knew). So they're going to be taking £70 a month out of my account and he said he can't change it now.

I feel trapped. I'm car-less still, and saving is made impossible because I have to pay other people or get taxis for my daughter etc. Its just killing me tbh. I'd settle for an old clapped out banger. I don't want anything glamourous. Not that I could run it thanks to HB now.

Not even sure why I'm moaning about the last bit as that's nothing to do with natwest. I just can't sleep yet again.

But any good bank recommendations, and any money making ideas would be appreciated.

YANBU - I've been with Natwest for about 30 years and I hate them. About 8 years ago I discovered that DH (now xdh) had run up thousands of pounds worth of debt without me knowing about it. He had cancelled the mortgage dd which went from his account, and because I always left the house early for work he managed to intercept the post. This went on for about 6 months before I discovered it,

We seperated because of this and I went to Natwest for help. They refused me an overdraft or a loan because I failed the credit check (due to dh's lies). I remember sitting crying because I had no money to help me move out of our house, I ended up living in the same house as DH for a year while we tried to sell. They wouldn't consider personal circumstances - the computer said no so that was that. I spent 5 years clawing myself out of debt.

Unfortunately I can't change to another bank because of my credit rating - I'm stuck with them.

Tbh I think most mainstream banks would be the same - there is no personal service or autonomy for the staff to make decisions based on individuals. Sorry, I know that's not helpful at all! Have you thought about approaching a credit union to help fund a car?

YANBU...they are absolute cunts....I will forever hate them and absolutely will never use them again

Lloyds are excellent

So you ever take responsibility yourself?

lisaro do you mean do?

If that was aimed at me then yes I do. I got to the age of 30 without any debt, no overdraft, no loan. I was let down by someone I loved and trusted. Since then I have paid off his mistakes as he has been unable to do so, whilst remaining on friendly terms and wishing him well in his new marriage.

I now have no debts, no loans, no overdraft again. I took responsibility even though it wasn't mine to take. But it would have been a lot easier with a little bit of support from my bank.

I hope you never find yourself in need.

My friend is with Natwest and they are shite. Always racking charges up by taking payments early etc. I would never bank with them. I'm with HSBC and have never had a single problem since I was 16.

Ive been with Natwest since I was 14 and never had a problem. They irritate me giving the sales pitch when i just want to deposit cash & leave but other than that they've been great. Infact without them we wouldnt have our own business - they lent us the start up cash.

Sorry you are having a tough time. Natwest have a terrible reputation. Change to co-op. I have just switched from RBS (after getting hacked off to the point of screaming with their failed promises and pseudo helpfulness backed up by f all) and so far am very impressed. Easy switch over- they did it all for me- and they routinely get great feedback from their customers.

Money making ideas- ebay? babysitting?

Englishgirlapprox- I hope you don't mind me saying that I'm in awe of you. I struggle a bit with money management and I have no idea how I'd cope either emotionally or financially with such a devastating blow. You are
an utter star to have pulled yourself through.

i have been with natwest for the last 3 years and have found them very good

much better than halifax .... but what you have gone through is crap :(

The last couple of years its got worse - A so called friend emptied my account. I was called a liar over it and made to feel like some whining scrounger for wanting my own money back. It never got resolved.

I am assuming that by this you mean they advised you to report it to tge police and you didn't?

So, how did a friend get access to your account? Did you write down your pin number? Did they forge your signature? Did you report to the police? Was your friend prosecuted? Surely the bank refunds cash taken fraudulently as long as you didn't do anything silly like give out your pin.

I hate them. I've been with them for ten years, and I'm the same. They wont let me have an overdraft, they wont let me have anything at all. In fact, as mine is a basic account, they instigated a rule whereby I can only use Natwest cash points. So, both my partner and I went in and asked for an upgrade. He has previous debts etc, got one straight away, and an overdraft.

I was refused, and told I can't reapply for 6 months. When I got cross, I was told it was due to my being the victim of identity theft. I lived in a shared house about 13 years ago, and when I moved out at 19, some other bugger moved in and started using my name to get a credit card and gym membership. They used this card paying it off for three years from 2001-2004.

I applied for a credit card, having had no loans, mortgage, not even a store card and got refused in 2007. I put this down to being young at the time and having had no credit.

I then got a letter from a debt agency, asking if I'd ever lived at my shared house address, so I got in touch. I had 2 years of hell after this, had to go to the Police in my old home town who were happy I wasn't at fault. I could prove when I lived in this shared house and that the card was applied for after I left, and they'd got my middle name and date of birth entirely wrong. This company didn't care and I had to threaten to take them to court in the end.

Anyway, this is all on my credit report. Natwest don't give a shit. So despite 10 years of being a customer, I have the account of a teenager, with no possibility of having a credit card or anything else.

OP, if they have you on a basic account, they can't charge you £30 per time- they tried that with me for a 28p overdraft from Ebay (fees came out two days earlier than I was told).They tried charging me £36 over this 28p, so I complained in writing to head office, and they admitted my type of account cannot be charged £36 as its practically a kids account, and since then, the few times I have gone over (I'm talking twice in 8 years before Lisaro wants to start being a tit about irresponsibility etc) I've been charged a fiver.

They have no concept of customer service- all customers caught up in their computer fuck up should have been given compensation whether their DD where affected or not.

BTW my sister, who is a grade A biatch, works for them. Which says it all really.

They were terrible with me wrt my student account. Charges for a (I would think) pretty obviously fraudulent transaction which they allowed, unhelpful whenever I needed anything, ringing me constantly for a month to set up a payment plan re: my student overdraft before I had even graduated and just generally being bolshy and unpleasant. Paid them off out of my first wages and switched to Alliance and Leicester who were awesome, amazing and great. Although they have since fallen in with that bad crowd Santander...

The loan and overdraft refusal will be because of your credit rating, nothing to do with Natwest per se, any other bank would probably refuse you too.

As for the theft, if you reported it to the police and they found that it was indeed theft then you should have got your money back, so I am confused as to why you didnt.

I have never had any problems with Natwest, or Halifax, but I would cheerfully burn Santander to the ground!

Another Natwest hater here - when I found myself unexpectedly pregnant they were so unhelpful. We have our accounts, credit card and mortgage with them but they would not help at all with freezing credit card interest for a couple of months or giving us a mortgage break for a couple of months, despite always paying on time in full every month. I ended up back at work after 11 weeks :( because financially we had no choice. The Natwest customer service assistant (female) did advise me to 'work the system' by claiming a bad back - that's what she did apparently!!

NatWest do give a shit, actually. They had (and are sadly continuing to lose) a loyal and long-serving staff who have been shat on from a great height by senior management over the years, and a lot of stuff that used to be done in-house, that they had some discretion over, is now outsourced, offshored and computerised so that they have no choice but to pass on those charges to you.

Unfortunately they, like all the other banks, are hamstrung to a large extent by banking regulations and legislation to do with fraud and money-laundering, which has got worse since 9/11 and some of you on this thread seem to have fallen foul of.

And, to be fair, banking is a business like any other and employs a lot of people - you may be talking to someone on a bad day, or someone who is a total arse, it is very often the luck of the draw. It's rare that people remember (and post about) the good, though. DH has been with NatWest for 27 years and has always had great service (me too but as ex-staff I may be biased).

Lazygirl, are you for real? The bank should 'compensate' customers even if they weren't affected by the computer cock-up? For what, exactly?

Staff worked unpaid overtime and weekends to set things right which they had no power to prevent, that same week they were told via a 2 line memo on the inhouse website (which not everyone accesses) that their pensions and pay were being cut by 5% to 'improve business efficiency' - but they still did the unpaid work because they were once proud of the company they work for and want to be again.

I'm not saying NatWest is perfect, far from it, but it's no worse than the other big banks and in the past was a lot better.

Btw, RBS and NatWest are part of the same group and have been since 2001. It still surprises me that people don't know that...

OP if you do move try the Co-op bank. I have found them very good both on-line and in their branches. And they have a good policy on ethical investing.

lovecat that is definitely the problem. When I say I hate them I'm not talking about the counter staff, advisors or even the bank managers. They can only do what they are allowed to do. It's the fact that nothing is left to discretion, that a computer credit rating has more sway than a face to face meeting with an individual.

I said in my first post that all major banks would be the same and unfortunately that makes anyone who has had bad luck, or been silly with money in the past very vulnerable.

My local building society has an excellent reputation as a mortgage provider because the credit check is only a small part of the application. The decision to offer a mortgage is made after a long meeting where you go through your income, outgoings, work history etc. It means that the decision is made on your current circumstances rather than something that happened 5 years ago. I think most of us would just like that option when applying for an overdraft too.

scummymummy It was sink or swim really so I got on with it. To be fair to my exh what he did wasn't malicious - he just got himself into a situation he couldn't handle and didn't know how to ask for help. He's actually a very nice guy just useless with money.

I am assuming that by this you mean they advised you to report it to tge police and you didn't?

I reported it to the police, they called me a liar.

So, how did a friend get access to your account?

We went shopping, and I mustnt have been careful enough covering my pin. I think he saw me put it in as I've never given it out.

I am aware that other banks aren't likely to do anymore, but its the unhelpfulness along with it. It also seems to vary from branch to branch. The branch I opened the account with are the most unhelpful, useless bunch of morons I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. When I was visiting, my bank card broke (the chip stopped working) and they refused to speak to me despite answering all security questions, because I had no proof of adress on me - they could not understand that I live 2 hours away. I needed moey to get home. They kept telling me I would have to go home and get some proof - wtf? If I could get home I wouldn't have been stood in the branch trying to explain to concept of travelling to the thick bitch.

The branch in my mums town however, in similar circumstances have always been good and use common sense when asking security questions (IE it would be unlikely someone would be able to recite my history from memory).

IE it would be unlikely someone would be able to recite my history from memory).

Actually I bet your friend could, don, recent transactions, address, place of birth etc