Nationwide Refunds £6m To Customers Following CMA Action

8 August 2019, 13:17

Nationwide has committed to refund £6m to affected current account customers after it failed to send them a text alert before banks charge for unarranged overdrafts.

Nationwide will refund customers after it was found to have broken a legal order from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The building society broke Part 6 of the CMA’s Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017, which ensures customers with personal current accounts receive a text alert before banks charge them for unarranged overdrafts.

This text gives customers time to take action to avoid unexpected charges.

Nationwide admitted contravening the Order 20 times, affecting over 320,000 customers.

Some of the problems date as far back as February 2018 from when the Order was introduced.

The CMA has directed Nationwide to take immediate action and improve its practices and compliance with the Order.

Any new processes must be audited by an independent body.

Adam Land, CMA Senior Director for Remedies, Business and Financial Analysis, said:

"The text alerts we ordered banks to send to customers if they are about to slip into an unarranged overdraft are key to helping them avoid unexpected fees.

"Nationwide failed to do this on numerous occasions and our action today makes it clear they must fix this as a matter of urgency.

"It’s imperative that these problems are sorted out immediately and that they don’t occur again."