Excellent service (Natwest Credit Cards)

Member Name: unknownlunatic

Product:	Natwest Credit Cards
Date:	31/10/04 (1900 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent customer service, Easy to read statements

Disadvantages: None I can think of!

I have had a Natwest credit card since March 2001. I was 19, and wanted a credit card for buying things on the internet, as I was uneasy using a debit card in case I was a victim of fraud. You have much more protection with a credit card, as the money isn’t instantly gone from your account, so if a fraudster gets your card details and uses them, you don’t lose out, unless of course it was your fault that they got the details.

Anyway… I went into my local branch of Natwest to enquire about getting a card. I chose them because I already had a bank account with them, and was happy with the service they provided. They asked various questions, and I had to fill in a form, and that was it! I then waited for about a week, got a letter saying I had been approved, and was sent my shiny new credit card.

At the time I was at college, but had a part time job with a regular income, so they decided to give me a credit limit of £1000.

I wasn’t bothered with the interest rates, as I intended to pay off the full balance every month, so would never get charged interest. I don’t like spending money that I haven’t got. I still pay off the full balance each month, so can’t really comment on how competitive or not their interest rates are.

I was very happy with the service. Monthly statements that are well presented and easy to figure out. Always at least 2 pages of A4. The first page a summary sheet showing the amount spent in the month, payments made to the card, the new balance, the minimum payment, and when it should reach your account by and your credit limit. Also on this page are any important messages, and a payment slip. The next page(s) show the purchases you have made.

They regularly put up my credit limit, even though I rarely get anywhere near it. It now stands at £3500.

I had no problems with the service, and also noting particularly amazing about it either. It did exactly what it said on the tin. However, recently there have been 2 occasions when the service has really stood out and been excellent.

The first regards interest. I missed a payment by a few days. It was quite a large amount, about £2000, and so of course I was charged interest. The amount of interest seemed quite high though considering I had only missed the payment by a few days, so I decided to ring up and check it was correct. I spoke to a nice person who explained how it was calculated, and that the amount was correct. She then had a look at my account, and said that because I always pay on time, they would not actually charge me the interest as I was a good customer!! That was nice, and saved me a few quid!

The next incident involves fraud. I received a phone call from someone at the Natwest Card Fraud Department. The man I spoke to said they had a few transactions they wanted to check with me. He then read out a list of places where considerable amounts of money had been spent over the last few days. It had flagged up on their system because it didn’t fit in with my normal spending pattern. I had never heard of any of these places, and it was obvious that someone somewhere had got hold of my card details. So they cancelled the card and issued me with a new one.

What impressed me about that is that they called me about these transactions before they were even showing on my statement (which I check online) It is much nicer to be called and have them query the transactions rather than noticing that hundreds of pounds have been spent on your card and only noticing when the statement comes through.

I increasingly find that customer service these days does not seem important to many companies, but it is nice that Natwest’s customer service is excellent, and they are all friendly. It is because of this that I will probably remain a Natwest customer for years more.

Summary: