The Royal Bank of Scotland Avis 

Dreadful
So hard work to make a debit card payment
Gave up and sent a cheque!
Like they are stuck in the 80,s
Ridiculous

the so-called bereavement process is a mess. The bereavement department does not seem to communicate with the branch, and I have had repeated requests for the same documents. Staff on the phone generally helpful, but the system itself just does not work. I don't need this frustration with all the other admin necessary after a bereavement.

Lehman brothers all over again. They refused to allow 10k cash extraction for holiday despite giving them proof of ticket. ......

I thought I'd change to Royal Bank of Scotland as we have our mortgage with them, and they were offering a £200 switching reward. However, my experience of changing to RBS has been very bumpy, to say the least.

First of all, they took their merry long time to get my new card to me. They emailed saying I could set up an e-wallet type of card while I was waiting, however that required setting up online banking, which requires either the bank account details or card details, neither of which I had been sent. Made me real nervous I was going to be missing payments.

Card eventually arrived, but then the next roadblock hit. I needed to pay for my student loan payment in Iceland, except because my account is so new, they restrict me from sending money abroad. So instead, I thought I'd forward the money to my Starling account which is not so restrictive. Except to move such an amount (just over £500) I needed to use some sort of card reader, which RBS has not supplied. So again, I was screwed. I ended up having to remove money from my Cash ISA on Trading 212 and do the transfer from there using my Trading 212 bank card details, because RBS is useless.

Then I needed to pay my boyfriend my share of the bills, except again I hit another blockage, where RBS said I "used a different reference" for this transaction (it was the first one I ever did to him from RBS, and he too is an RBS customer) and it restricted me to sending him £500 in one day. So I had to pay him in two installments over 2 different days. Ridiculous.

Then I support a poor family in Colombia, a girl I used to sponsor through Children International, and her family. I have always sent her money through Remitly. As I no longer have the account I always used to use (disappeared during switch service), I set it up with my RBS details. Except YET AGAIN a roadblock. RBS rejects this payment too. And I can't transfer the money to another account that WILL ACCEPT this payment to Colombia, because RBS requires a card reader, but does not supply it.

What a rubbish bank.

My Fixed rate Cash ISA matured on 20/082026. I tried to give instructions on 04/08/2026 Online and by telephone for over an hour without success.
21/08/2026 I telephoned , spoke to to two humans but both were unhelpful after I was on the phone 45 minutes.
I went Online and closed my cash ISA as wasted almost two hours trying to give instructions about the account.

Completely convoluted nonsensical website taking me in circles. Their so called AI chat does the same. Inordinately complicated login processes and forms that can’t be competed on a mobile device. I tried RBS, you offer a compelling product, but I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.

Got a refund from Retail Disputes into my account on same day and without having to provide evidence. I had been charged twice for the same thing. Wasn’t optimistic about putting in claim, so was amazed and happy that the outcome was so quick and good. Was only a small amount but made big difference to my balance. Not often I get wee wins like this, so very grateful.

I had a call at 8pm (ish) at night allegedly from RBS fraud squad when I'd made a payment, the guy was indian and asking me my date of birth. Now, I'm not racist but if you watch scam interceptors the majority of scam call centres are located in India, so I was immediately on edge that it was a scam phone call, I tried to phone the out of hours telephone number but the automated responses were useless and told me to contact the person I'd made the payment to. I rang their fraud squad and again got an Indian speaking person so I hung up and had to wait until 8am this morning to find out if I'd been scammed or if in fact they put their fraud business through Indian call centres, which they do. That's enough for me to close my account!
How ridiculous just to save money, I feel my information is more likely to be sold on.

Trying to take cash out of my bank account to buy a clasic car was in bank about one and a half hours had passport for id and they wanted proof of seller also were the money in my account a d explan were it come from not acceptable to explan in front of other customers and still never got my cash ps I am closing my accounts after 46 years

I sent them my birth certificate for opening a bank account and despite the fact that I was able to scan it and read the scan easily, they emailed me to tell me they had rejected it! I sent the birth certifcate by recorded delivery. They now expect me to supply another birth certificate sent to them via recorded delivery.
Rubbish banking service who cannot let a new customer open an account even although they have an account with the NatWest! They suggested I send another copy of my birth certificate which would have to come from the Scottish Registry Service. How many recorded delivery birth certificates do they require?

"NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are part of the NatWest Group, which officially changed its name from RBS Group in 2020. While they operate as separate customer brands—with NatWest mainly in England and Wales and RBS primarily in Scotland—they share corporate ownership, ATM networks, and basic in-branch services."

Shocking and unsympathetic service. Trying to set up a Power Of Attorney jointly with my dad for my mum. But they want the original POA even though my dad has registered this with the Stirling branch. And they won't call their own Stirling branch! They were rude and patronising. The service is so rigid and but suitable for customers. I'm surprised the bank still exists.

Firstly I have to say RBS have pleasant telephone operators, however, for the most part they are inexperienced which leads to frustration. The main culprits for many grievances are the so called subject matter experts who hide themselves away and are uncontactable, but promise a call back, via a third party, which seldom happens. I have had issues with the fraud department, who initially claimed that an unknown party using my details to pay for services wasn’t fraud! And more recently a loan application which had gone missing in the ether, yet no one had any idea of resolving the issue. I ask myself how can I trust this bank with my finances? The price of funding their incompetence has recently been in increased to £21 a month. Additionally, I believe that I will end up paying them interest for the money in my savings account! Shocking customer service. Their AI “Cora” is useless; sends you round in circles! I’m totally dissatisfied with the organisation and as a consequence, after 40 years banking with them, I’m switching banks.

big big thanks for changing my card details for no reason without telling me and without me being able to decline it and forcing me to use biometric approval just to see whatever you changed it to

I applied for an extension to my overdraft 3 weeks ago. I got an email confirmation of the application and 3 weeks later have not received any reply to my application. No phone number to call and Chat Bot Cora is a waste of time.
Total disgrace and very incompetent and very low grade customer service.

Spoke to a R.B.S. agent on their Info' line.
Despite having my Mortgage reference number, account number, my personal details of course on my Home telephone landline number the Witch on the other end of the phone would not supply the mortgage balance details.
I haven't banked with R.B.S for years, changed over to Nat West years ago when R.B.S pretty much went Bust.....
Customer service is Terrible.
Not Happy.
Stay away from this 5hit bank.

Worst bank to bank with ever, take ur cash but can’t help I give u to back which had left me with stress. Week 3 and rbs took 350 out my bank didn’t give me the cash or refund it back, I have been struggling to make my basic needs in they just dont care av waited right up to the Disbute dates they gave still nothing

40 years with an account at this bank, moving now after series of failures. Final issue, used my pre-agreed overdraft limit for the first time in over a decade, only needed it for 1 week. 1 day later they arbitrarily reduced my overdraft limit and have locked my account.
No prior notification in the App but apparently an email was sent - from a noreply address that my computer had put in the Spam folder.
No prior notification in the banking app or its messages.
The email said they knew what I needed better than me so were reducing the overdraft facility cutting it to 1/6 of what was agreed.
Online bot Cora gave the date of the email else I’d never have found it.
Cora also dorect r me to request the limit be changed as a new request - except it won’t let you if you are over your overdraft - which I was as they reduced it to just 1/6 of what it had been.
Had to wait to the next day to call and speak to a person. Lovely person but system is so locked down - they couldn’t change the limit - because I was now over my overdraft.
So until I get paid on Friday I can’t use my account or bank card, any auto payments will fail, may show up on my credit score, and they cannot / will not do anything about it because ‘the computer says no’. On a problem caused by the computer deciding it knew better than me what I needed.
Complaint raised but when a bank hands all decisions to its bits and systems with no way for a human in the loop to address problems that may cause - then that bank has really lost sight of what customers service is.
Sending emails into spam rather than using the secure messaging facility in the App is a poor communication choice.
Not having an escalation route when you unnecessarily lock a customers account is unforgivable.
The timetable for a response probably about 4 days if you raise it as a complaint but it may take longer - don’t care if meantime we have locked your bank account.
RBOS used to be a good bank and real people customer service who could actually get things done. That is no longer the case and it looks like I will have arranged a new main bank and be moving my salary and business elsewhere before they have even got round to sending a complaint response.
Zero Stars - bank elsewhere

Got shifted over from the One Account...apparently I need to call them to request paperless billing...?!

Firstly, I can't update my email address on-screen (I have to "Chat to Cora"...mindless AI crap) and then Cora tells me I have to call to do anything.

If you think I'm sitting on hold just to go paperless then you've lost your collective minds. I'll just keep burning the rainforests...

I have been banking with RBS and it predecessors
( started as Williams Deacons) since 1958. I have never had cause for complaint until very recently but now I am incensed.
I had cause to write a written complaint regarding the refusal of my debit card at a supermarket. I received a reply that i would receive a response within ten days, which in itself I found unacceptable. The ten days elapsed and I received another email of apologies saying that I could now expect a response to my complaint within 20 Days!
Such service(?) is abysmal and unacceptable. I shall now seriously consider moving my accounts to another provider.

Tried to open a business bank account and 6 weeks answering repeated questions and submitted a complaint to RBS I received an email stating sorry for the delay and it will take another 5 weeks to resolve.

The application process is a complete farce not to mention the time wasted on this.

Would not recommend RBS for a business bank account application as has serious process issues so I would recommend to approach other banks first.