Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6397746 of 2026-07-07T00:00:00+00:00. Service failures generally complaint against National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company. Outcome: Not upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6397746 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-07-07T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company |
| Product | Credit card |
| Claim type | Service failures generally |
| Outcome | Not upheld |
| Remedy | NatWest should ensure the £61.42 interest refund from December 2025 is credited to the account if not already done. The £200 compensation for poor telephone service has already been paid and is deemed sufficient. A six-month interest waiver has been applied. |
Summary
Mrs L complained that NatWest changed how interest was charged on her credit card account following its migration from another lender in October 2025, and that she received poor service during a telephone call. The original lender had not charged interest due to a coding error, but NatWest began charging interest two months after migration when its coding system took over. The ombudsman found that the original terms and conditions entitled both lenders to charge interest when full statement balances were not paid by the due date, and that Mrs L's historical statements showed multiple instances of unpaid balances. NatWest's interest charges were therefore correct and represented a correction of the previous error. The ombudsman upheld NatWest's offer to refund two months of interest, apply a six-month waiver, and pay £200 compensation for poor service as fair and reasonable, and did not uphold the complaint.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman reviewed the original terms and conditions which clearly stated that interest would not be charged if the full statement balance was paid by the due date. Historical statements demonstrated that Mrs L had failed to pay full balances before due dates on multiple occasions before migration, meaning the original lender was entitled to charge interest but did not due to a coding error. Once NatWest's coding replaced the original lender's coding post-migration, NatWest correctly began charging interest when Mrs L again failed to pay full balances by the due dates. This was a correction of the previous error rather than a change in terms. The bank's offer to refund two months of interest and provide a six-month waiver was fair and reasonable.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company, all decisions | 12,694 | 19% |
| Service failures generally, all decisions | 34,229 | 32% |
| Credit card, all decisions | 26,117 | 22% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website