Cash machine freedom

A million people with basic bank accounts at RBS and NatWest will be able to use the full UK network of cash machines after the banking group reversed a decision to restrict them to its own machines.

Lloyds says it will also give cash machine freedom to its basic bank account customers.

The accounts provide a stripped-down service, with no cheque book or overdraft.

The RBS Group has 8,000 cash dispensers and Lloyds, including Bank of Scotland and Halifax, has 6,500.

Adding the whole LINK network will mean customers will have access 67,000 machines which most current account account customers can use.

The U-turn at RBS comes as the new chief executive, Ross McEwan, tries to win back customer confidence.

It restricted access for basic bank accounts in 2011, saying the service was unsustainable because of the cost.

RBS chief executive Ross McEwan said: "We looked at this and decided it just wasn't right. 

"You don't make life harder for those who need your help most. We need to rebuild trust with our customers."

Lloyds will start sending out new cards to customers from July, allowing them full cash machine freedom.

RBS will implement the change by the end of the year.

Free wi-fi at the bank

Free public wi-fi is spreading like wildfire across UK banks, as bankers try to harness the power of mobile internet to keep customers happy.

RBS and NatWest have just revealed that all their 2,000 branches will offer free wi-fi by the end of the summer, for customers and anyone else who happens to be in a branch or in range.

Yesterday HSBC launched wi-fi hotspots in 650 of its branches. Barclays already has them in 1,600 outlets.

The RBS group has been trying out wi-fi in 800 locations, to give customers the option of downloading banking apps and managing their accounts on the move.

Some technology experts have warned that users need to be on their guard against cyber thieves who use open connections to steal personal information.

RBS said its service was safe and protected. However, customers needed to be alert to the danger of thieves setting up wi-fi hotspots purporting to be from the bank.

NatWest website problems

RBS/NatWest's meltdown on Monday had nothing to do with hacking or suchlike, the bank said then.

But today's problems with NatWest's website ARE being blamed on outside forces.

An RBS spokesperson said:
"Due to a surge in internet traffic deliberately directed at the NatWest website, customers experienced difficulties accessing some of our customer web sites today. This deliberate surge of traffic is commonly known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. We have taken the appropriate action to restore the affected web sites. At no time was there any risk to customers. We apologise for the inconvenience caused."

Thinkbanking accounts rescued

100,000 customers of a specialist current account provider which depends on RBS are being told that their accounts will back to normal at 3pm this afternoon.

Thinkbanking offers a tailored account for people who need to budget carefully, so its customers were particularly vulnerable to having their funds cut off.

Like RBS customers, most of them were unable to see credits to their accounts or gain access to their money.

The company has paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds to customers desperate for cash to keep going.

Some have complained that while most RBS and NatWest accounts were sorted out on Monday, theirs have been left on one side.

Thinkbanking, based near Manchester, relies on RBS's banking licence and account administration to provide its service.

Tax penalties apply despite NatWest problems

Revenue & Customs says it will be sympathetic to firms which submit PAYE tax money late because of the RBS debacle - yet they'll still have to pay any penalties due.


Is that being sympathetic?


Here's what the tax people at HMRC say:
"We are sympathetic to any customer experiencing genuine difficulties in not being able to pay their tax bill, but for customers affected by the specific NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland Group issue they need, in the first instance, to seek compensation or help from the bank."


Apparently, being "sympathetic" means understanding what the reason is and not pestering or pressuring businesses to pay up.


What happens is that firms can be late with one monthly or quarterly payment, then penalties start at 1% of the amount due, rising if they are late again.

Claiming back from NatWest

The original link (at the bottom) is up and running again after being removed last night.


Just in case, here's the normal complaint form for you. And here's the main complaints page.

And this is my original post about the form for people who have been "impacted":

This is where you can have a first stab at lodging a claim against NatWest for costs incurred as a result of their payments meltdown.

If you click on the link at the bottom of their advice page, the form opens up.

NatWest claim form (Now this one is working again!)

£100 extra on an RBS card

NatWest customers with a credit card will be able to use it to get out an extra £100 cash with no fees or charges.

They've just sent this out to customers...

"We know that our current technical issues may still be impacting a number of our customers as we work to clear the backlog.

To make it easier for our customers experiencing difficulties accessing cash we have made the following arrangements. All our current account customers who have an RBS, NatWest or Mint credit card in good order can now:
 

*	Withdraw up to an additional £100 over their limit on their credit card, with over-limit fees or charges automatically waived or refunded
*	For Cash withdrawals on their card, cash advance fees as well as one month's worth of interest on the transaction will be waived or refunded

For all current account customers we will:

*	Automatically waive or refund overdraft fees and charges on current accounts for customers who have been impacted

We are making these commitments today and there is no requirement for any customer to take further action to benefit from these changes."

NatWest/RBS extends opening

NatWest and RBS say over 1,279 branches will be open on Saturday.

Those usually working from 9am to 12.30pm will keep their doors open until 4pm

The bigger ones normally open from 9am to 4pm will extend to 6pm

On Sunday some of them will open from 9am to 12 noon.

Ulster Bank says that 60 of its branches will extend their hours on Saturday to 10am to 3pm.

And 20 will open on Sunday from 10am to 1pm.

NatWest problems will last through today

RBS/NatWest/Ulster Bank

The underlying technical issue which caused the disruption to payments in the RBS group of banks has been resolved, according to a source within RBS.

However the inconvenience to customers is likely to continue through today as staff try to get system back on its feet.

The weekend will provide a breathing space to update payments in and out of accounts, although there is no guarantee that everything will be back to normal by Monday.

The banks have a serious backlog to clear up. Effectively, they are a still a day behind.

Most of the payments which had been missed on Wednesday night have now been processed, although the situation is considerably worse in Ulster Bank, but many of last night's payments haven't got through.

It is understood that the technical glitch arose after staff tried to install a software update on RBS's payment processing system, but ended up corrupting it.

RBS adverts banned

The banking group, RBS, has been banned from re-showing two TV advertisements in which it claimed that it would "continue to provide banking services wherever we're the last bank in town".

The Advertising Standards Authority concluded that one of the ads, for NatWest, was misleading because in the town of Farsley in West Yorkshire they had closed a Natwest branch when there were no other banks remaining.

The other ad was for RBS and the ASA found that in Bettyhill, Thurso, RBS had closed a branch which was the last in town and replaced it with a stop on its mobile bank route.

The complaints were brought by the Campaign for Community Banking Services.