Is The Royal Bank of Scotland having a liquidity problem? The reason I ask is very simple. I asked it for my money back - all £57.77 of it - in the summer of last year, and I am still waiting, despite three further requests, the last of which was made last Friday (April 17 2009). I have still not received my money despite an assurance that the matter would be resolved.
The request dates back to the fraudulent removal of more than £3,000 from my RBS credit card last July. To give RBS credit, the matter was addressed and the money reinstated very very quickly. I instructed that the account be closed, and asked for the small credit balance to be returned. But I am still waiting. As a creditor who is also a taxpayer and a shareholder, I think I am being very shabbily treated.
Which is why I ask: is The Royal Bank of Scotland having a liquidity problem?
It is also demanding payment from my daughter of money that it says she owes on a credit card account that was closed several years ago, and which she insists she doesn't owe, but is considering paying just to get it off her back. Trouble is, they will not provide proof of the alleged debt unless she pays it £10 for duplicate statements, the originals of which she says she has never seen, so we are at something of a stalemate. Much of the supposed debt seems to comprise its arbitrary charges, late payment fees and over limit fees and such like, which could continue mounting ad infinitum.
'Customer services' staff have given her conflicting information, including an opinion that no, she doesn't owe the money, which was reversed just hours later with a statement that included the accusation that she was lying about a change of address some months ago. In mounting frustration, bordering on desperation, I contacted the press office, a maneouvre which journalists will report usually brings a satisfactory response. Not so far it hasn't. The press officer who returned my call discussed the matter with my daughter on Saturday afternoon, promised to look into it, and ring her at work first thing on Monday morning (April 20). Again, she is still waiting. And in the meantime, my active imagination has gone into hyperdrive.
Is The Royal Bank of Scotland so desperate for cash that it is resurrecting old accounts where it can claim in a manner that out-Kafkas Kafka that there is a debt, that it then retrospectively levies charges on, and demands settlement of, banking on the hope that people will cave in and pay money they do not in fact owe? If so, this is nothing less than state-sponsored extortion. But then, what do we realistically expect from a government that is planning to double the country's debt in just a few short years, whose representatives claim reimbursement for charges to watch adult entertainment and bathplugs, and whose police forces seem to regard themselves as much above the law as does their boss, the Home Secretary?
If any readers have had any similar problems with The Royal Bank of Scotland, do feel free to contact me on [email protected].
PS To give credit where credit's due - something of a rarity during the recent banking crisis - RBS did eventually return my money and waived the amounts they said my daughter owed. But they have still not offered an explanation, or an apology, or provided proof of the alleged debt. And I only got this far because I contacted the head of media relations and asked for his help. My efforts to get satisfaction as an 'ordinary' customer got us precisely nowhere. Good luck with any RBS problem; you'll likely need it. Don't get me started, by the way, on GE Money and the crooked car dealers it helps finance...
