I had a student account with Natwest, which had an interest free overdraft. Once I had left uni, it became a graduate account, with a £500 interest free overdraft.
Recently (around 2 or 3 months ago), I used the overdraft facilities by £150. It was well within the range I had agreed with the bank. The following week, I'd paid it back off, so my account was balanced. I didn't need to use the account for a couple of months, so it sat untouched since then.
After deciding to install bank apps, I found that my account was no longer balanced, but was now around £13 into my overdraft. I'd been charged £6 per month for the last two months, because my account was in the overdraft now. I checked to see what caused it, and it was a random 50p charge from Natwest (labelled as an 'interest fee'). This was charged two weeks after I had already balanced my account, so I owed them nothing.
It turned out that Natwest had now changed my account from a graduate to a current account, which did not have any interest free overdraft. I received no letters, emails, text messages or phone calls regarding this. The 50p charge for me using the overdraft for the week then took me into the overdraft, for which they then slapped another fee on me for. They charged me a fee because of their own fee.
When I went into the bank, the first woman was completely unhelpful, and repeatedly told me that I would have to pay the charges (charges added well after the account was already balanced). She eventually got her manager, who finally said she could clear the charges, but she couldn't clear the charges that would come later. Yes, I'm going to be charged next month because I am currently in the overdraft because of their fees. I'm having to pay for their actions.
The most frustrating part was that the manager gave me an option: she can clear the current charges and I pay the later charges OR she can stop the later charges and I pay the current fee. She failed to mention that if I paid the current fee, it would cost me the £13, but if I paid the later fee, it would cost me almost half that at £7. Even when I said to her that I would clearly be paying the cheaper amount, she refused to acknowledge it and kept acting like the choices were equal in cost. It's that sort of slippery, sneaky behaviour that means Natwest will charge you for a balanced account and then try to pretend that either option they offer is equal and helpful. It is no different to theft.
Never use this bank.
Reviewed on: 28th April 2016
