Businessman wins record payout from NatWest over unfair charges
One of the leading banks in the UK, the NatWest, has been forced to payout thousands of pounds to a businessman who was hit time and time again with bank charges over the years. The businessman from Norfolk had started legal action against the bank after officials failed to respond to his claim, but the week that he was due to attend a case conference with regards to the case a cheque arrive for the full amount of £36,000. This is a tactic that many of the banks seem to have been employing, where payment for the claim is made at the last minute before the case is heard in court.
The businessman states that he was charged a £30 fee every time a direct debit was returned or a cheque bounced on the business account. He stated that although the bank was happily taking the money for the charges from his account they would not consider giving him an overdraft to sort out his cash flow. He estimated that around £24,000 was applied to the business account for a two year period from 2000.
The man stated: 'At the time I was paying £2,000 to £3,000 a month in charges. I felt I was being ripped off - they were quite happy to take bank charges from us but were not willing to give us an overdraft.' When making his claim to NatWest the businessman added up the charges that had been applied to the account and then calculated the interest that was lost as a result of the charges, bringing the total claim to £36,000.
Many consumers in the UK have been reclaiming their bank charges, although a recent report states that over two billion worth of charged are still to be claimed. Many have claimed back hundreds, and some have claimed back charges that run into the thousands.
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