Teenager Says Natwest Let Her Down Over Bank Charges
August 6 2008
It's a nightmare that nobody should have to face, let alone a teenager, but Megan Turner was charged hundreds of pounds by her bank, after becoming overdrawn.
After five years of banking with her local Natwest in Cheltenham, the 19-year old decided to open a savings account. This was in 2007.
Unbeknownst to Megan, the direct debit that was set up to transfer money from her current account to her savings account, would still go through, regardless of whether funds were available or not.
When she checked her statement, some time during the previous October, she was devastated to realise that she had twice been charged for becoming overdrawn, to the tune of �56
There was no guidance or help offered to the young lady, when she went to her local branch, in order to sort the situation out.
When she was not able to pay off the amount she owed, Megan visited the bank on several times, in an attempt to resolve the situation. She went along with family, friends and colleagues, in order to try and establish some kind of payment scheme. Every attempt she made was declined by the bank.
Her total debt is now �251.07, which she is unable to meet the cost of.
Her bankcards and her chequebook have been demanded back by Natwest, who are now threatening her with court action.
Megan said "I only found out when I went to the hole in the wall," and added "I went in there six times altogether and they gave me no help whatsoever.
"It was only the last time I went in with my step-dad that they gave me a number to ring to try and sort it out.
"I have had some quite threatening letters. It's upsetting that they say they are going to blacklist me because as far as I'm concerned I haven't done anything wrong.
"I think the charges are far too harsh, they're just ridiculous."
Natwest had a spokesperson explain that it was not their policy to discuss individual cases, but that they would investigate what was happening with Megan's finances.
It was subsequent to learning about the plight of Laura Gibson, of Cheltenham, who, after initially being 8 pence overdrawn, ended up with charges in the region of �800.
The implementation of punitive overdraft charges has been recently deemed as still being acceptable, and therefore banks stand to make over �1.3 billion pounds in the subsequent six months.
There is to be a high court battle between the banks and the office of fair trading, but until then the City Watchdog, which is the Financial Services Authority, has allowed banks to put the handling of complaints and refunds on hold.
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