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#Post#: 37142--------------------------------------------------
Natwest Closed Account
By: vinba666 Date: September 17, 2024, 3:43 am
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Hi All,
In a bit of a stuck situation. I had 2 bank accounts with
NATWEST that were closed by them without letting me know. I live
in Slovakia and the first I knew about it was when I tried to do
a transfer into the account using wise to pay of the overdrafts
on them and both the payments were returned.
I phoned the central banking helpline and was firstly told that
a) The accounts had been closed as I lived in the EU and Natwest
were looking into closing EU accounts (found out later it was
because they were marked as dormant)
b) That I would have to pay the overdrafts off straight away,
but I would have to do it from a UK bank account
I explained that I could just simply do a transfer to the
account if they gave me an iban number and a variable symbol to
identify myself.
The operator said that I had to pay from a uk account and that
if I did nothing it would be passed onto the collections
department which would affect my credit score in the future (not
particularly bothered as not planning to come back)
I got a slew of emails and texts from Natwest saying I had gone
over my agreed limit, etc. Pay money into the account.
I phoned up the collections department, trying to be proactive
and I was told that I could pay off the overdraft simply by
paying money into the accounts (It doesn't work, the money is
just returned eventually)
We then tried the following:
a) Paying via bank card but when they tried to process it, it
just gave a json error on their system
b) Doing another transfer from a GB pound balance on my wise
card. This got to Natwest, got stuck and then was returned
c) Trying the website form they gave me but that also declined
to accept my payment.
d) Given an iban and swift code which they said would work but
was the iban and swift code for the closed accounts and just
bounced back.
Spent an hour on the phone to the lady who tried to be helpful
but ultimately got nowhere.. It seems that no funds can be paid
into the accounts as they have been marked as 'dormant'.
She said she would put a complaint in for me as obviously I was
trying to pay the overdrafts off but nothing seemed to work.
Anyone know where this goes from here? I received no prior
warning from Natwest that they were closing the accounts and I
get a daily sms telling me that despite repeated warnings I have
not paid off the overdraft.
Many thanks.
#Post#: 37382--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: Daim456 Date: September 18, 2024, 10:38 am
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Why you want the accounts open. At least you saved money by not
paying off the overdraft.
You could reply to the text with "STOP", otherwise you could
contact Natwest to remove your phone number and email address as
per by GDPR (Data Protection Act 2018), report to ICO if they
failed to do that.
#Post#: 37387--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: 666 Date: September 18, 2024, 11:07 am
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[quote author=Daim456 link=topic=3162.msg37382#msg37382
date=1726673923]
Why you want the accounts open. At least you saved money by not
paying off the overdraft.
You could reply to the text with "STOP", otherwise you could
contact Natwest to remove your phone number and email address as
per by GDPR (Data Protection Act 2018), report to ICO if they
failed to do that.
[/quote]
Their response to the ICO might be "This customer owes us £xxx,
and has left the country. We need to retain his contact details
to try to recover the debt." The ICO might well see that as
reasonable.
#Post#: 37426--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: vinba666 Date: September 18, 2024, 1:06 pm
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I'm not particularly bothered by them closing the accounts. I
just want to be able to pay off the overdrafts somehow that were
on them. I've read that Natwest sometimes sells off debts to
third parties and who knows what sort of fees they might try to
add on.
#Post#: 37494--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: The Rookie Date: September 19, 2024, 6:31 am
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[quote author=vinba666 link=topic=3162.msg37426#msg37426
date=1726682800]
I'm not particularly bothered by them closing the accounts. I
just want to be able to pay off the overdrafts somehow that were
on them. I've read that Natwest sometimes sells off debts to
third parties and who knows what sort of fees they might try to
add on.
[/quote]
Which would be irrelevant really, even if they were to sue for
the money (and you are outside jurisdiction) if you could show
to the court you had tried to pay and NW made it impossible, the
court wouldn't uphold a claim for any extra fees.
You could just post a cheque to NW company address for the sum
of the two accounts with a covering letter (and keep evidence of
sending)?
#Post#: 37565--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: vinba666 Date: September 19, 2024, 1:07 pm
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I don't have a UK bank account and Slovak banks no longer issue
cheques so it's not a possibility. I suppose I could just wait
and see what sort of solution NatWest come up with but I'm not
holding my breath. The biggest problem is who to make anything
payable to. They kept telling me to pay into the closed account
but that doesn't work. It didn't inspire confidence when I had
to explain to the customer services person on the other end of
the phone what an Iban number and swift code were...
#Post#: 37599--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: Rallyman72 Date: September 20, 2024, 3:04 am
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[quote author=vinba666 link=topic=3162.msg37565#msg37565
date=1726769265]
It didn't inspire confidence when I had to explain to the
customer services person on the other end of the phone what an
Iban number and swift code were...
[/quote]
Call centre staff, for that is who you probably spoke to,
wouldn't know what an IBAN number is as direct payments from
overseas accounts are still not that common where private
individuals are concerned.
I regularly have had to explain to a bank what I want to do and
how they need to help me - I used to work for one of the big 4
but moved elsewhere 20 years ago to a job where my skills were
better appreciated.
A possible solution is to use a trusted friend or family member
in the UK who could send a cheque for you. Mind you many UK
banks no longer issue cheque books.
#Post#: 37689--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: stamfordman Date: September 21, 2024, 4:33 am
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You usually can't pay money into a closed account. The clue is
in the word closed...
How much is owing and when were accounts last used.
I would as suggested just write to them and say you are willing
to settle but they need to open a way for you to do so.
#Post#: 39365--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: vinba666 Date: October 4, 2024, 3:44 am
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Okays it's all sorted.. After a lot of faffing around and
logging a complaint, they temporarily partially reopened both
the accounts to allow money in. Did a transfer and confirmed
with them that balances were all £0. They did charge interest on
both the overdraft balances in the meantime. Oh well.
Thanks to everyone for the help and advice..
#Post#: 40842--------------------------------------------------
Re: Natwest Closed Account
By: vinba666 Date: October 15, 2024, 8:44 am
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Last update.. They undid the interest charged, apologised for
all the faf and sent me some compensation.
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