Northern Rock fined widow £800

An elderly widow has expressed her anger after stricken bank Northern Rock fined her £800 in the midst of the chaos in September after she withdrew her savings from the bank.

After it became public knowledge that the bank had borrowed money in the form of an emergency loan from the Bank of England panic set in amongst those with savings in the bank, and many of the bank’s 1.5 million customers quickly withdrew their savings. One of these savers was seventy six year old Mrs Heather, who had tens of thousands in savings with Northern Rock.

Mrs Heather had £173,000 saved in a thirty day notice savings account, and was therefore aware that if she withdrew the money right away she would face hefty penalties. She therefore contacted Northern Rock and asked them to keep the money in the account for the thirty day period and then send a cheque out to close the account, so she effectively gave the required thirty day notice period.

However, a week later she received a cheque for the money in the post, and given the bank’s position thought that they must have decided to waive the thirty day period in light of what was going on. However, when she then asked the bank for a closing statement she realised that Northern Rock had in fact fined her £800 for withdrawing her cash early, even though she had given notice and the mistake had been on the part of the bank.

She said that she called the bank to complain: ‘The lady I was speaking to apologised, but then got very officious and said I should have sent the cheque back to them after I received it. She was very bombastic. So they expect a 76-year-old housewife to know when they have made a mistake – even when they fail to send out a statement showing what they have done?’

Alan Wright
26th November 2007