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Search forOverdraft row man: 'I'll glue myself to bank'
Saturday, November 15, 2008, 07:00
Roy and his wife Sally, who are both disabled and wheelchair bound, failed to cover £25.50 worth of standing orders when Sally transferred the necessary cash to the wrong account by mistake.
The bank billed the couple a total of £114 and immediately took it out of their account.
Because that made the account overdrawn, the bank then billed them another £28 for exceeding their overdraft facility, declared Mr Wilson.
The National Westminster Bank's actions have left both Mr and Mrs Wilson furious and they are now preparing to take their complaint to the banking ombudsman.
Meanwhile, Roy declared: "I am prepared to glue myself to the bank as a protest.
"It would teach them a lesson so they realise they can't just walk over people.
"It's nonsense. They have no sense of humanity at all."
Mr and Mrs Wilson live in Sea View Terrace, Thurlestone, but bank at the Nat West at Totnes.
Roy, 67, suffers from spinal and neck problems while 62-year-old Sally suffers from arthritis and Fibral Myalgia which affects her arms and legs.
Both have to use wheelchairs to get around and as a result most of their banking is conducted through the internet.
Sally explained that as soon as she realised her error, and that the standing orders for relatively small sums had not been paid, she corrected it — but it was too late.
Although the bank agreed to let the couple off £38 worth of charges, it is still insisting they pay the rest of the money — which they can ill afford.
The couple are currently preparing to move house and have scraped all their savings together to pay for the move, explained Sally.
She said their joint income meant they were not 'poverty stricken' but added: "It's the principal of the thing really.
"This is very important to us. We need every penny we can get at the moment."
A bank spokesman said: "All our charges are clearly explained in our fees and charges leaflet, given to all customers at account opening and on request and on our website.
"The bank has already refunded part of the charges as a gesture of goodwill when Mr and Mrs Wilson informed us three days after they made the transfer in error.
"Mr and Mrs Wilson use online banking several times a week and are, therefore, very aware of the confirmation process when making payments which gives two opportunities to verify the instruction before it is complete and check the new balance of the accounts.
"Even after the transfer, one can still reverse the payment online or call telephone banking or the branch to ask for the payment to be reversed."
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