I already reviewed them earlier under the "National WestMinster Bank" section of Ciao, but since they've screwed me out over £140 in 2005, I couldn't resist this opportunity to twist the knife in further. As you probably know, NatWest is short for "National WestMinster Bank"..... and are now part of "The Royal Bank of Scotland" (Stock Ticker EPIC code = RBS / RBS.L depending on which ticker / portfolio service you use..... cost around £16 - £18, usually a solid one to buy into if your into the Buy&Hold approach to purchasing shares).
If you read my earlier review, you'll probably know the only reason I joined 'em in the first place was because I needed my own account to have money paid into + a cheque and piece of plastic to make payments with.... and that Barclays turned me down, and while the blurb for most of the other banks seemed to give the impression they weren't interested unless you were capable of paying in £1,000 a month. Eventually the accounts picker gizmo on the NatWest website
pointed me in the direction of their "Current Plus" account.... and after all the usual business of bringing in various confirmation documents, I received a cheque book + a wallet to keep it in, a Switch / Maestro / Cirrus / Link debit card (with cheque guarantee as well) + a folder for storing statements in.
After that things went fairly well..... apart from the time I tried buying £14 worth of books for Christmas presents with the debit card in my local bookshop but the machine rejected my card.... only for me to discover when my statement arrived there was £80 in my account at the time. Then there was the similar incident in the model shop at YORK MODEL RAILWAY. And the time my website was down for a couple of weeks because they bounced the payment for my hosting with 1&1 Internet.... and the couple of times my PIPEX broadband got disconnected for pretty much the same reason.
Ah, and now we come to the early months of 2005, when there's about £75 in my account and both Webhosting (£73) + ISP (£47) fees are due at the sametime..... and instead of bouncing one or both of them due to insufficient funds, they accept both at once and put me overdrawn as a result. No sooner have I put the money in to cover it, then they screw me with a £28 fine for being overdrawn.... and put me overdrawn again, and screw me for another £28 because they put me overdrawn, this pretty much revolves a bit until they've screwed me out of about £114. so then I go into my local branch (opposite Whitby swing bridge).... where you'll probably know from my other review the "Personal Banker" basically just printed out a copy of my statement, talked it through with me sort of style & tone you'd associate with someone teaching maths in a primary school.... and basically told me to get stuffed.
That's when plan B came into action..... write to the branch manager himself and demand to have an overdraft facility added to my account in order to minimise the damage should they put me overdrawn again. Instead they just sent me a letter telling me to arrange an appointment with the manager "to talk things through".... oh and also screwed me with a £28 fine for them putting me overdrawn again, and a £30 "Referal fee" = £58 in one month = the equivalent of just over one week of what I get paid in unemployment benefit!
With that, I decided "f@#% ya then"..... and opened a far superior current account with the HALIFAX, who automatically gave me a £200 overdraft limit...... which came in pretty useful for covering the several other £28 fines the Natwest screwed me with for them putting me overdrawn with £28 fines! >:-( Which prompted me to try get shot of "Prat-West" once and for all..... I could have done so directly, but then decided it would be much more painful for them to have it come from the Switching service of their parent companies' old arch rival "The Bank of Scotland".... who just so happen to be the parent company.... well, are sort of merged jointly with the HALIFAX and known as HBOS (also a fairly decent investment if ur interested in shares.... performed better over the last year on the stock exchange than any of their rivals).
This time they instantly gave me a £1000 "Switchers Overdraft" for 120days (and has since been extended now that time period has expired), though the Natwest account still seems to be open and £2.66 in credit.... which is more than can be said about my Halifax accounts (still got a bit of a hole in them from covering the Natwest fines, and everything else as well).
Now compare this with the NatWest..... who have since added an Overdraft request facility to their online banking service. Within the last hour (before resuming this review, having left it in the drafts folder for a few months), I had a shot at using it........ first I applied for a £200 overdraft limit, but it was rejected claiming my credit score was too low (which I assume is NatWest's bloody fault in the first place for screwing me out of every penny I've got)...... then I tried again for a £50 limit, and that went through. NatWest - There is another Way? Too bloody right there is....... it's called the HALIFAX, their staff can actually be bothered to come to the counter when there's a queue forming, they offer a much better interest rate, the VISA debit card they give with the account actually works when you need to use it (including with online purchases in the USA), offer a much more generous overdraft limit & their local branch doesn't look as old & scruffy inside as NatWest's either.
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I got charged something stupid one month. I phoned them and the gave all charges back. They have always been fab with me. I do agree that letting stuff go out and leaving you overdrawn sucks ... but you do get charged if a DD bounces. So you can't win on that score. x
Moogiekupo 05.05.2006 23:50
I have opened an account with them but hardly uses it - Kupo x
killiefan 05.05.2006 15:52
I think it is just your luck with banks, I actually left the Halifax due to the shoddy service they were giving me. Scott
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Low Interest rates and huge charges, inefficiency, incompetency, unreliability, ridiculously long queues, slow service, and many more
heliosvk777 20.11.2004 (20.11.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of NatWest
Advantages: Easy to set up, great overdraft facility, great student credit card Disadvantages: Solo/Maestro - you have to make sure you have the right debit card
lora44 27.08.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of NatWest Accounts
May 5th, 2006
very helpful by (88%):
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