Can't pay CC - Natwest Unhelpful

[girlsmum]

Hi, writing this for a friend who has lost a lot of business (is SE) and has a huge Credit Card debt with Natwest.

The Payment this month is £158, - £145 of that is interest alone (!).

Have just encouraged my friend to ring them as she is unable to pay this month (things are seriously tight), thinking Natwest would be really helpful.

They weren't.

They have said they are unable to freeze the debt for a month or two, they can however drop the payment by £8 pounds to £145 so she is only paying the interest (wtf??), could she manage to pay £145, my friend then burst in to tears and hungup.

I just wanted a bit of advice on whether Natwest have any rules or how they should help if one of there customers gets into difficulty? Quite frankly, dropping the bill by £8 doesn't sound helpful to me!

Thanks

You should tell your friend to go and see the CAB. They can give her some money advice and will contact twatwest on her behalf, negotiate a repayment plan and are able to negotiate a 0% interest rate whilst her card's being paid off.

I'm fairly sure there's a part of the consumer credit act/bank regulator thingy which says that the bank must be sympathetic to customers who find themselves in financial dificulties.

see section 9

Thanks Belle,

i have read the attached and found it interesting.

Will speak to my friend and urge her to go to CAB, unfortunately, my friend is very embarassed about her situation and it took her a lot to confide in me.

Thanks again.

I spoke to NatWest this morning about something else. They were singularly unhelpful. I spoke to 3 people, 1 of whom was hideously rude to me & kept talking over me, using a tone, etc.

I have no advice, but wanted to share the timely NatWest rage

Natwest have gone absolutely shit and seem to have no interest in customer service whatsoever as far as I am concerned.

I was in a similar situation a few years back.I phoned the company who did nothing to do to help and they even advised me to contact a debt management company which i did and now i pay it back interest free and at a lot less a month.

We loathe Nat West too.

Give them hell,