Natwest Frozen Account

[glendvd]

This literally couldn't have happened on a worse day, they certainly know how to screw you to maximum effect! Yesterday was payday, I took out my IVA 2 months ago, and yesterday I awoke to check online if my pay had gone into my bank account with Natwest, only to find my account had vanished, along with £100.00 that was still in the account. And God knows where my pay has gone! When I rang Natwest they say it is because I was overdrawn (by about 2 quid) when my IVA started and there was nothing they could do, sorry, but you're on your own. I now cannot pay my rent and all my bills which are all obviously due on the day I get paid.

The most annoying part of all of this was the fact I was never given a single word of warning from Natwest which I find disgraceful. I was simply left without a bank account, on payday, and left with not a single penny to live off. How are they allowed to get away with doing this without giving you a chance to get another bank account sorted? I suppose my main question is, are they actually allowed to do this, without any warning? The least I should have expected was prior warning via a letter or something. But nothing.

So now I've had to open a new bank account, wait for the new sort code and account number, hope that my pay finds its way back to my employer (it hasn't as yet), and hope I get my new bank set up sharpish or I'm gonna be screwed.

Have I got any cause, and any where, for getting Natwest to reverse this decision for at least some time to get my finances in order?

[ClareSilver]

Are NatWest one of your creditors in your IVA?

[glendvd]

No they are not.

[Skippy]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Did you have any debts with Natwest or RBS?

If they have closed your account your salary should bounce back to your employer, although this take several days. Would your employer be able to help with an emergency loan in the meantime? There was a mix up with my salary once and my boss agreed to do that.

In the meantime I would definitely escalate this with Natwest. While they probably won't budge on re-opening your account (and personally I wouldn't want to bank with them after this) you should get your £100 back.

[Skippy]

Sorry for asking the same question, I started typing my reply and we had a fire drill!

[glendvd]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by Skippy

Hi and welcome to the forum. Did you have any debts with Natwest or RBS?

If they have closed your account your salary should bounce back to your employer, although this take several days. Would your employer be able to help with an emergency loan in the meantime? There was a mix up with my salary once and my boss agreed to do that.

In the meantime I would definitely escalate this with Natwest. While they probably won't budge on re-opening your account (and personally I wouldn't want to bank with them after this) you should get your £100 back.

You're absolutely spot on, I want nothing more to do with them after this. I am still making several phonecalls to them to try and get them to locate my £100.00 balance so am not giving up.

My boss has agreed to help me out but in nowhere near the terms I need to pay all my bills (including my IVA). So until that pay bounves back, and my new account gets set up, I'm gonna have to not pay anything.

How can a company do this to people? I know they're a bank and they're all £$*&'s, but this surely takes the biscuit, just stopping somebodies account that they need to live on, without any warning whatsoever!

The annoying thing here is, their insolvency dept. is the place I need to speak to, and I've had to ring them a good 6 or 7 times in the past 24 hours, and the minimum I've had to hold in 1 call so far is half an hour.

[Skippy]

I would suggest contacting anyone who is due to be paid (including your IP) to let them know there is a problem with your bank and payment will be delayed.

Good luck in getting this sorted out.

[glendvd]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by Skippy

I would suggest contacting anyone who is due to be paid (including your IP) to let them know there is a problem with your bank and payment will be delayed.

Good luck in getting this sorted out.

Thanks, I have done this for the important ones like the IVA and rent, just a bit embarrassing saying "I don't know when you'll get it".

Rang the bank for 20th time it seems this afternoon and they have finally found my remaining balance of £101.43 and allowed me to go into my bank to collect it. Said "thank you" through gritted teeth and a bitten tongue on my way out (I knew it wasn't the cashier's fault afterall), and have put in a very strongly worded complaint through Natwest's website. Mainly based on the fact, not the account was frozen, but that i had no warning. Very bad service on their part. Still can't quite believe they did it.

Thanks for the help Skippy. Looking forward to a signature that says what yours does.

[Skippy]

I'm glad you've got your £100 back. I wouldn't be embarrassed as any number of things could have caused the error - mine was a payroll error as they put the wrong sort code in.

[Kelly O]

I am sorry that you have had this problem with Natwest, unfortunately it seems more banks are taking this stance with customers in IVAs.

Have you opened another account?

[abbiesmum2003]

I am sorry to read this has happened and at payday. Can i ask what sort of account it was? Im with Natwest and panic everyday they will do this. We had a select account to start with (pre-iva) and after iva was set up we got downgraded to a basic account without warning. I rang Natwest and was told because we are in iva they dont need to give warning. Id even read all their small print to quote it as saying they need to give customers x amount of warning before changing account however theyvsay as im in iva they could down grade without warning (also in small print...which its not...they say small print out of date!!!). I think basically banks make it up as they go along and because we cant have overdrafts etc they dont make any money from us so can treat us worse than normal.
Im glad you got your money back and hope new account is up and running soon.

[TheArtist]

abbiesmum, why don't you pre-empt what could happen and move to another account?

[TheArtist]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by abbiesmum2003

I am sorry to read this has happened and at payday. Can i ask what sort of account it was? Im with Natwest and panic everyday they will do this. We had a select account to start with (pre-iva) and after iva was set up we got downgraded to a basic account without warning. I rang Natwest and was told because we are in iva they dont need to give warning. Id even read all their small print to quote it as saying they need to give customers x amount of warning before changing account however theyvsay as im in iva they could down grade without warning (also in small print...which its not...they say small print out of date!!!). I think basically banks make it up as they go along and because we cant have overdrafts etc they dont make any money from us so can treat us worse than normal.
Im glad you got your money back and hope new account is up and running soon.

Natwest are becoming more and more ruthless

[Shining]

Isn't it a shame when banks are doing this because we are trying to sort ourselves out...might be best to have a second account that is at the moment IVA friendly 'just in case'.

[glendvd]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by abbiesmum2003

I am sorry to read this has happened and at payday. Can i ask what sort of account it was? Im with Natwest and panic everyday they will do this. We had a select account to start with (pre-iva) and after iva was set up we got downgraded to a basic account without warning. I rang Natwest and was told because we are in iva they dont need to give warning. Id even read all their small print to quote it as saying they need to give customers x amount of warning before changing account however theyvsay as im in iva they could down grade without warning (also in small print...which its not...they say small print out of date!!!). I think basically banks make it up as they go along and because we cant have overdrafts etc they dont make any money from us so can treat us worse than normal.
Im glad you got your money back and hope new account is up and running soon.

Kelly, yes I have opened another account, and as I needed it quickly (literally couldn't have happened on a worse day, payday!) I ended up using a bank called secure trust as they could set it up straight away and send me my new bank details and card etc within 3 working days, and they charge £12.50 a month plus a £12.50 setup fee, but from what I could see I had no choice. Perhaps, I don't know, once I've got my wages and have a bit more time to look, I can cancel that account and go with a free one. Apparently though, from what I've seen, having an IVA doesn't give you much choice of bank accounts. I have applied for the co-op one but that was gonna take too long to setup. This is exactly what happens when a bank shuts your account with no notice.

abbiesmum - I had both of those accounts you mentioned. And they froze them both! Despite only one of the accounts being used. I had both accounts and used to swap money between the 2 after Natwest a couple of years ago decided you could only use their card at their branches and not at any cash machine. I know it's pointless talking to them too. I rang them on Monday morning to discuss the situation, and explained how they'd left me high and dry on payday, and they weren't interested, not a single shred of empathy or help was forthcoming. I even then took a walk down to my branch of Natwest, thinking someone would take me into a private office and explain to me what had happened, and perhaps help me sort out my finances, maybe even unfreeze the account until I had the chance to sort out a new one if i explained to them in person what they'd done to me. And all the guy on the desk did was ask me to take a seat in a waiting room, i waited for 10 minutes thinking he was sorting something, but he just called me over, handed me a phone and put me through to the exact same department i'd spoken to myself that morning, with the exact same response surprisingly enough. And then sent me on my way. Hopefully the same doesn't happen to you.