Rates and charges

• Important notices
• Common definitions
• Subscription fees
• Interest we pay you
• Interest due on overdrawn balances
• Charges – Arranged Overdrafts, Unarranged Overdrafts, Unpaid Items and Enforcement Charges
• Additional services

Throughout this page, you'll see various terms being used. Here's what they mean:

Annual Equivalent Rate (AER). This is a notional rate used for interest bearing accounts which illustrates what the gross credit interest rate (excluding any bonus interest payable) would be if paid and compounded on an annual basis. It helps you to compare the effective rates of credit interest on different accounts.

Effective Annual Rate of Interest (EAR). This is the real annual cost of an overdraft, stated as an annual rate, which takes into account how often interest is charged to the account. All other charges, such as arrangement fees, must be shown separately from the EAR.

Gross Rate. This means the interest rate you are paid before the deduction of income tax.

Net Rate. This means the interest rate you are paid after the deduction of income tax.

Nominal Rate. The rate charged excluding compounding of interest and other charges associated with a borrowing, e.g. arrangement and security fees.

p.a. per annum (per year).

Monthly subscription fees are payable on the following accounts. Membership includes access to all the benefits listed in the appropriate brochures and user guides.

Application of subscription fees

The subscription fee for each monthly charging period will be debited from your account 21 days after the end of that charging period (or on the next business day if this is a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday). The fee will appear on your statement as ‘CHG’. The charging period normally ends on the date that we issue your statement to you.

The annual rates of interest paid on credit balances:

Calculation and application of interest.

Interest is calculated on a daily basis and paid into your account once a month, usually the day after we issue your statement. The exception to this is our Cash Account, where interest is paid within the first eight days of each month.

1. Arranged overdrafts

Advantage Private, Advantage Gold, Current Account, Current Plus and Private Bank Account

If you have arranged an overdraft facility with us in advance and you use this facility within the thresholds shown below, you will not pay any interest.

If the amount you overdraw under an arranged overdraft facility exceeds these thresholds, you will pay interest at the rates shown in the tables below on the overdrawn balance – even the part of the balance which is within any interest free threshold that applies to your account. However, we will not charge interest on any part of the overdrawn balance which represents fees, charges or costs of the kind described in section 6 of our leaflet: Personal and Private Banking - A Guide to Fees and Interest (PDF File 225KB) under the heading Sums which do not bear interest.

If you have arranged an overdraft facility with us in advance under which you pay interest at a rate other than the rates shown in the tables below, the interest free thresholds shown below will not apply to your account.

Interest free thresholds

Current rates

The following rates are effective from 28 April 2008

Credit Zone isn't available on Step or NatWest Adapt accounts.

We'll arrange a Credit Zone Overdraft, depending on your circumstances.

Your overdraft may be subject to an arrangement fee. Our unarranged borrowing rate and fees will apply if you borrow over your arranged limit. Please see the 'Unarranged overdrafts' and 'Charges' sections below for details.

Previous rates

The following rates were effective from 02 January 2007

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Student Account

Your overdraft is available at a preferential rate while you hold a Student Account. If at any time you cease to be a Student customer for any reason, then the interest rate you pay on your overdraft will revert to the standard rate which applies to Current Plus customers.

Student Account arranged overdrafts are interest free. If you request an arranged overdraft with a limit which exceeds the thresholds set below, you will need to provide additional information to support your application.

Graduate Account

Your overdraft is available at a preferential rate while you hold a Graduate Account. If at any time you cease to be a Graduate customer for any reason, then the interest rate you pay on your overdraft will revert to the standard rate which applies to Current Plus customers.

The package is available for up to 3 years and the preferential terms expire at the end of June in the third year after Graduation. We will treat the end of our June charging period as the end of June for this purpose. In all cases, proof of graduation is required to open an account.

Graduate Account arranged overdrafts are interest free if the overdraft limit does not exceed the thresholds set out below. If an overdraft is arranged with a limit which exceeds those thresholds, you will pay interest on the amount of the overdrawn balance that exceeds the relevant threshold at a rate of 1.38% per month which is equivalent to 17.81% EAR Typical (variable).

However, we will not charge interest on any part of the overdrawn balance which represents fees, charges or costs of the kind described in section 6 of our leaflet: Personal and Private Banking - A Guide to Fees and Interest (PDF File 225KB) under the heading Sums which do not bear interest.

If you have taken out a Graduate Overdraft Repayment Plan, you may still apply for an overdraft facility, but we will charge you interest at a rate of 16.50% per annum, which is equivalent to 17.81% EAR Typical (variable)

2. Unarranged overdrafts

Any amount overdrawn without an arranged overdraft or in excess of an arranged overdraft limit will be charged at the following rates:

The following rates are effective from 01 October 2009

Previous rates

The following previous rates were effective 06 September 2004

However, we will not charge interest on any part of the overdrawn balance which represents fees, charges or costs of the kind described in section 6 of our leaflet: Personal and Private Banking - A Guide to Fees and Interest (PDF File 114KB) under the heading Sums which do not bear interest.

Interest at the appropriate rate is charged in addition to the Maintenance Charge. The Paid Referral Fee and / or Guaranteed Card Payment Fee may also be payable if the unarranged overdraft arises from an informal request by you for an overdraft. Please see the 'Charges' sections below for details.

Interest on arranged and unarranged overdrafts is calculated on a daily basis and charged monthly. The interest we charge in each charging period will be debited from your account 21 days after the end of that charging period (or on the next business day if this is a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday). The charging period normally ends on the date that we issue your statement to you. If we are going to debit interest from your account, we will give you not less than 14 days’ notice of how much we are going to debit and when.

The charges shown in this section do not normally apply to the other accounts we offer to Personal and Private Banking customers. However, we sometimes allow other accounts (including savings accounts) to be operated in a way which enables the customer to give instructions for a withdrawal or other payment which cannot be met from the funds in the account. If this happens, the charges listed below in the sub-section "Unarranged overdrafts and unpaid items – charges" will apply.

Arranged overdrafts – arrangement and renewal fees

Unarranged overdrafts and unpaid items – charges

If we are going to debit any of the fees and charges set out in the table below from your account, we will give you not less than 14 days’ notice of how much we are going to debit and when.

Note that the Maintenance Charge, Guaranteed Card Payment Fee and Paid Referral Fee do not apply to Student and Graduate Accounts.

Note that the Maintenance Charge, Guaranteed Card Payment Fee, Paid Referral Fee and Default Notice Fee do not apply to Step Accounts.

Monthly Management Fee Option

If you regularly pay unarranged overdraft or unpaid item charges, we may agree with you that our Monthly Management Fee Option will apply to your account. Under this option:

• you pay a monthly management fee of £10;
• any Maintenance Charge, Unpaid Item Fee, Paid Referral Fee or Guaranteed Card Payment Fee which you have to pay will be reduced to £5;
• the Paid Referral Fee will be subject to a maximum of £30 in any charging period, the Unpaid Item Fee will be subject to a maximum of £50 in any charging period, and the Guaranteed Card Payment Fee will be subject to a maximum of £30 in any charging period.

Please note that this option is not available for certain accounts, including Student, Graduate, Adapt and Step Accounts and cannot be combined with introductory or special offers on other accounts. For further details, please contact your branch.

Annual Holding Charges are applied in arrears so any withdrawal made prior to the anniversary of the deposit will incur a pro-rated amount of the annual charge. In addition, a £9.79 fee will be charged for initial deposits and any re-deposits following item inspection or temporary release. The charges set out above are inclusive of VAT.

If the service you are looking for is not shown in the table above, please ask at any branch or call the number on your statement summary sheet.

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