Natwest offers solution to bank charges for customers
August 7, 2007
One of the UK’s leading banks, Natwest, has offered its customers the options of paying a monthly fee on their bank accounts in order to reduced the chances of being charged costly overdraft fees for exceeding their overdraft limit.
The offer is being made to many customers that tend to come close to exceeding their limit each month and those that do regularly exceed their overdraft limit, thus incurring extortionate fees applied by the bank.
The charge that will be made to customers that want to do this is £10 per month. However, experts are warning consumers to think carefully, as the deal means that they may no longer have the right to reclaim any bank charges. Since overdraft charges were deemed illegal and unfair by regulators in the UK last year, many consumers from all around the country have been claiming back fees going back up to six years, and for many this has amounted to thousands of pounds each.
Although Natwest customers that do sign up for the deal will not be charged as much as the normal rate, they will still be charged. Current penalty fees with Natwest are between £28 and £38. However, with the £10 per month deal customers would be charged a reduced fee of £17 for exceeding their overdraft limits. A Natwest spokesman stated that those that do exceed their limits regularly could benefit from this deal. He said: ‘For those who do our new offer could better suit their banking habits and will be available to them as an alternative choice.’
A spokesman from Which? stated: ‘The £10 monthly charge is effectively insurance for going beyond your overdraft limit. The best advice is for people not to get in this situation in the first place and contact their bank if they know they will have to go over their limit. But if they do accept this there is a danger that they may only be able to claim back the reduced charges that have been taken, whereas bank customers are successfully claiming back their full bank charges.’
Alan Wright
7th August 2007
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