Reimbursement pledge over meltdown

Bank customers who suffered knock-on costs during NatWest's IT meltdown will be reimbursed no matter who they bank with, its chief executive has said.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group boss Stephen Hester also promised free credit checks for people who fear their lending status may have been affected because of their inability to pay bills in the crisis last month.

In an open letter to users of the MoneySavingExpert website, Mr Hester said that while non-customers should contact their own bank to resolve their problems, anyone who has incurred extra charges will be reimbursed, whether they are RBS group customers or not.

RBS Group is still clearing up the chaos caused by a computer failure three weeks ago, with Ulster Bank's problems lingering for longer than those of Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest.

The group has so far cleared up 90% of 21,000 inquiries which could not be resolved immediately and needed further investigation.

Those who have lost money directly because of the problems can expect to recoup costs such as overdraft fees and interest, late payment fees and interest on mortgages, loans and credit cards and missing interest on savings.

For those who have had to dip into an RBS Group isa, the bank can manually reset its tax-free allowance to make sure customers are not disadvantaged.

If someone has been wrongly hit by charges from another major bank or building society, the other provider should refund the customer as an agreement is in place to treat people who have been affected sympathetically.

But RBS Group said it will reimburse any losses as a direct result of the crisis, if they are not refunded by another party, which includes those for non-customers as well as its own.

People have been urged to keep evidence of extra charges such as emergency travel tickets so they can prove how they were out of pocket.