Sabtu, 23 Juni 2012

Do NatWest / RBS have to cover late payment penalties or extra costs caused by banking meltdown?

Do NatWest / RBS have to cover late payment penalties or extra costs caused by banking meltdown?

By Lee Boyce

PUBLISHED: 10:26 EST, 22 June 2012 | UPDATED: 09:22 EST, 23 June 2012

Natwest and RBS has been hit by ‘systems errors’ in the last two days which has caused chaos for millions of its customers â€" so if you are hit with a late payment charge or were unable to make a crucial payment, will the banks be forced to pay out?

Susan Allen, director of customer services at the RBS Group, said nobody would be out of pocket as a result of the error.

She urged people who have been affected to get in touch and call into branches. ‘We can help you, we can get money to you,’ she told the BBC.

‘So we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our customers and customers of other banks, and if people can get in touch we will make sure that we fix this for them.’

Staff had worked through the night and there would be double the number of people staffing the phones, she said.

‘Yesterday I organised to have some money go in a cab to one of our customers. We know this is terrible and we want to make sure we get money to as many people as possible.’

According to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), there is no specific rule or procedure in place when it comes to a bank systems failure, but anyone out-of-pocket owing to the problems does have certain rights.

The FOS, which was keen to add it cannot formally comment on an individual bank, says that as a general rule charges that are incurred outside of a customer’s control should be sorted by the bank - and it should put customers back in the position they were in had the problem not arisen.  

Enlarge   NatWest: Issues have plagued its systems in recent days, plunging many customers into a frenzy

NatWest: Issues have plagued its systems in recent days, plunging many customers into a frenzy

What has happened?

A computer meltdown at NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, left up to 12 million NatWest and RBS customers unable to receive money or pay bills  because of a major technical fault.

The bank has resolved the 'underlying problem' and is dealing with a huge backlog of transactions that have not gone through. It may take until early next week to catch up.

The systems disaster, which the company now says began on Tuesday, meant that payments due to be made on Wednesday night, ready for Thursday, did not appear in account balances.

As a result, some customers were blocked from taking money out of cash machines, while others had internet supermarket food deliveries stopped after payments were rejected.

Some people could not use debit cards at tills, including hotel check-out desks, airports and petrol stations.

Some customers were able to access their money by 4pm Thursday but problems have persisted and customers continued to report being unable to access their cash yesterday. It is unclear whether the problem that stopped payments due on Wednesday night have also blocked payments due for Thursday as well.

The website gives an 0845 number that customers can call for any queries concerning the technical issues. However to reduce call charges, NatWest customers can phone 0161 451 7551. RBS complaints has a freephone number 0800 015 5035 or customers can phone 0161 930 8666.

The bank should waive fees or extra interest

A spokeswoman for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said NatWest/RBS would be responsible for any charges or interest customers are hit with as a result of the error. However, there is nothing in its rules that says the bank will be forced to pay any consequential losses as result of the glitch.

The spokesman, speaking to The Guardian, said: ‘We will want to know what action NatWest has taken to sort this out. We want to know what's gone wrong and that it is being sorted. We want to make sure lessons are learned.’

But despite this, the spokesman couldn’t state whether RBS would face regulatory action as a result of the systems meltdown.

When will this be fixed?

The banking group says it has been ‘working round the clock’ to fix the technical problems â€" but it looks like it could stretch on over the weekend.

Swathes of customers have been affected by the glitches since Wednesday, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, the parent of the two banks, said that many will only see Thursday’s balances showing up on their accounts on Friday.

RBS says no one will be out-of-pocket, but what about knock-on effects?

The RBS spokesman has said that no one will be out of pocket and anyone who incurs a penalty as a result of the problems should contact their branch â€" however, some situations could prove more difficult to resolve.

Its website says: 'We can confirm that any fees and charges incurred by customers will be fully refunded. This includes charges levied by a third party; for example, if you were late paying a non-NatWest credit card or mortgage because your acc ount wrongly showed there wasn't sufficient cash.'

The FOS says that the meltdown does not mean that extra compensation is a right.

For example, we reported how one customer, Kora-Lee Holmes, a student from Hull, sent a tweet saying she had been blocked from checking out of a hotel in Italy and so had missed her flight home.

She posted: ‘Missed my flight home from Venice because NatWest’s server problems…New flights = £200.’

In an instance of being abroad and not being able to access your money, the FOS advises you to call the bank and see if they can sort out a solution, such as collecting money locally.

But there is no guarantee that anyone such as Kora-Lee will be compensated for any inconvenience she occurred while being away.

The FOS also advises keeping a record of all the ways customers have been left out of pocket, taking screenshots of payment errors for example â€" this way, if there are any comp laints that are not handled the way a customer expects in the coming weeks, the Ombudsman can step in and investigate.

It also urges anyone affected by the fiasco to let the bank know as soon as possible.

What about mortgages and wages?

There have also been reports of people’s mortgage payments falling through because of the debacle. Again, FOS the advises keeping a log of the problems to help with any potential case of lost money or fees they are hit with.

If your mortgage is due to be paid from an RBS/NatWest account you would be wise to call your lender and notify them - they should then give you extra leeway.

The BBC has also highlighted a case of a small business owner that has been left floundering after angry staff didn’t receive their wages this week.

Ian Ross, who owns QED Scaffolding in St Helens, told the BBC: ‘I have 200 very angry staff who have not been paid wages through RBS bankline system. They a re refusing to go on site and work until payment has been made.

‘RBS confirm payment will be made to individuals but we do not know when. I can see the money has left the business account but it has not appeared in their accounts yet.’

Again, because of the subjective nature of the problem, it remains to be seen whether RBS would have to compensate Mr Ross for any losses occurred for the issues and how to calculate it.

He isn’t entitled to compensation as a right â€" but RBS may reimburse him for losses anyway. If it doesn’t, it may involve a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

How many people are affected?

The first NatWest/RBS customers knew of a problem was when their cards were rejected at tills and ATMs on Wednesday, but it is not clear exactly how many have been hit.

NatWest put a message on its website in the morning which read: ‘We are currently experiencing technical issues which mean that a number of customer account balances have not yet been updated and some of our online services are temporarily unavailable.’

Asked if the problems would be resolved by the weekend, the RBS Group spokeswoman said: ‘Our technicians are working round the clock. It is obviously a priority. That's what we're hoping to achieve.’

NatWest has more than 7.5million personal banking customers, but the spokeswoman said it was difficult to say how many have been affected as it was not possible to know when they were expecting payments into their accounts. However, Ulster Bank said that around 100,000 of its customers have been affected by the same issues.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

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This problem is still not fixed. Was due tax credits payment today (Saturday 23/06/12) and has not materialised into my account. This is going to take some fixing in a time where a lot of people are living week to week due to the current financial situation. Where is the redundant (back up) server that should be in place to rectify such issues??Inexcusable!!!

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A relative banks with Think Banking, whom I have not seen mentioned in any articles - because they are not directly with RBS-Nat West they will be among the last to be sorted out, and unable to access moneyuntil well into next week. This means no money for the train fare to work, no money for food, which they buy weekly, no money for rent, which they pay weekly and because my relative lives in a 'cash' world, being on the bottom rung of society they cannot get help anywhere. The most worrying thing about this is how it will affect the veiws of 'those the government doesn't care about', those at the bottom who are made to accept wages through the banks and live on a very hand to mouth basis, why should they entrust the money that they rely on to live to organisations who can be falible with no come backs? what will happen if all those people opt to be paid in cash?

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Also I seriously hope they are made to pay compensation for people being put through severe mortgage problems and not able to buy food, being stranded, unable to get to work, move home etc as this has stretched on for days. It really isn't good enough.

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If this isn't sorted by next week am worried as due to be paid, my company (which employs both myself and my fiance) uses Natwest for banking, so if neither of us gets paid, we will be in our authorised overdrafts as bills start coming out. Although we won't be homeless or without food as some have been, we will still have to pay fees for being in our overdraft. We do not bank with Natwest or RBS so should our wages be late, will they be made to pay the fees we incur, as they are the sending bank?

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Mat Allen, The bank will be liable for fees,charges and interest on late items. That would not extend to the customer working around the problem via payday loans from a third party. Very difficult for those affected but breach of mandate is hardly a compensation haymaker.

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Would like to know if people can charge the banks late payment fees because we all know that if we're late to pay fees or bills our banks charge us shouldnt it work both ways? And just think of the desperate people that have taken out payday loans I bet wonga.com are well in pocket after this

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I feel sorry for staff in branches. They will get so much grief but don't get the monetary rewards. Need to bring head office staff in to get the abuse. My mtgage hadn't been paid to NatWest, I am sure it will be too difficult for them to sort out

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I can hear the lawyers licking their chops already!

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