Coutts Reviews 102

I used to be with coutts and left them for bad service!
I had 500.00 stolen from my account and when I filled out the requested form, they refused to reimburse me saying I’d given the criminal my PIN number! As if!
Also after closing the account I was 2.50 overdrawn and they wrote to me to ask for the amount through the post!!!
Never again would I use their service or their bank, utterly appalling customer service!
The name means nothing! Avoid!

Another change in relationship manager with no communication. New one proceeded to make errors, not carry out instructions as clearly stated (agreed as such by bank), did not admit to or communicate errors. Inappropriate and inaccurate communications.
On escalation - the person appeared not to have got facts before speaking and did not apologise until requested to go through bank's records to see errors. Focus on 'learning for new manager' - not at my cost and stress. AVOID NOW

I was going through a divorce at the San Francisco Superior Court and I asked Coutts to pay my San Francisco lawyer $5000.00 and the mortgage company three months payment on a condominium I owned in Pacific Heights San Francisco.

Coutts sent the envelope to the lawyer's office but to the wrong address and of course it didn't turn up at my then lawyers office. So the lawyer agreed with Coutts to put a stop on the cashiers checks and they wired the lawyer the money to cover the two cashiers checks. Nobody told me about this cock up.

Unfortunately for me weeks later the lost envelope turned up at the lawyers office. At the time he was going through a partnership split and had a cash flow problem. He deposited what he knew was a cancelled cashiers check into his trust account hoping to get a float. Well his bank picked up that it was a cancelled cashiers check sooner than he thought and bounced some of his trust account checks. In California if a lawyer has a bounced trust account check is a very serious matter. So to cover his tracks he told all and sundry that I had bounced a check on him. He wrote to Coutts blaming them for the cashier's check bouncing. If you had to write a letter to antagonise a former client's bank manager you could not have written a better letter. Coutts wrote back a very succinct letter pointing out the simple fact the reason the cashier's check bounced was his fault. However they asked the very obvious question of what happened to the mortgage companies cashiers check. So when he got the reply from Coutts three weeks after he had received the cashiers checks he wrote to the mortgage company enclosing their cashiers check and stating his cashiers check had bounced and he thought theirs would also bounce, again nobody told me about this.

At this time my former wife was back living in Bristol, England with us trying to reconcile. No sooner than she arrived back in our Bristol home then the lawyer sued me for the money. He started off by sending the moving papers to an address that I did not live at and to get a judgement he broke every applicable California Rules of Court, California law, and California Supreme Court rulings and in direct violation of a treaty the United States was a signatory of. So he got a default judgement and the same as before broke every legal provision to get an order to sell my condominium. As stated before my former wife and I were trying to reconcile having spent the previous year fighting each other in the divorce courts so trust was an issue.

My former wife thought I was in cahoots with my former lawyer and as a consequence abducted our three year old son to San Francisco to get her divorce lawyer to ask the divorce judge to issue an order stopping my lawyer from doing what he was doing. At the time of the abduction my former wife had taken my travel documents. Another lawyer said he would not represent but he would attend any court hearings to let me know what was going on. He told the judge about my travel documents and my former wife's lawyer was ordered to return them to me. Of course my former wife was bitter; she thought I had conned her. What I was not told is at all the hearings that took place when I was stuck in Bristol, England my former lawyer was also at the hearings saying I had bounced a check on him. His appearance at these hearings was again a direct violation of California State Bar Rules. If you want to know what the lawyer did please go to Amazon.com and look up the description for the book " 11 Oak Street"

When I arrived at the San Francisco Court three months after the abduction and saw my former wife with my former lawyer, her lawyer in the corridor of the court her exact words were " If you had not bounced a check on your lawyer none of this would have happened. Of course I did not have a clue about what she was talking about so I phoned Coutts and learnt for the first time about the history of the lost cashiers checks and my former lawyer's letter to them. Years later when I successfully sued my former lawyer for legal malpractice it turned out he owed me money. At a deposition when asked why he did what he did he said" Because I was British it got his Irish gander up." It turned out he was a subscriber to Noraid.

At the first hearing I was requesting to see my son as to the divorce judge who was once amicable towards me was now hostile because she believed what my former lawyer had been saying and this was all my fault. Unfortunately for me the same judge had given weekend access to a Norwegian father who on the first weekend abducted his son using a duplicate passport and a false seamans pass on a Norwegian freighter. So I had to surrender my passport to the court and visitation would be supervised.

As to Coutts their conduct gets worse and worse and I ended up losing everything I had on this earth including my children I was also made bankrupt.

Awful service, everytime, never again!

Coutts is closing my account after over 30 years, with only 60 days notice.
The reason given is not credible: a recently uncovered inability to offer their “wealth products” in Kenya, where I currently live. The only product overseas I need is the ATM. I lived here for 10 years previously without complaint from Coutts and around 25 years of my time at Coutts has been spent abroad. Experiencing this sort of thing from one’s bank is like being stabbed in the back. I have done nothing to deserve this, nor have I infringed any law or regulation.
I have emailed them asking for a more detailed explanation and also an extension of the 60 day notice period to which they have not had the courtesy to reply.
I find this contemptible. I am still a customer for another 4 weeks.
I strongly advise caution to those considering having an account at Coutts. In banking, trust is everything and Coutts has turned out to be untrustworthy.
For those of you who decide to ignore the experiences of others and continue with Coutts - or indeed NatWest - thinking that they would NEVER do it to you, you could be next.

I was trying to open bank account, I wasn't allowed as I'm not eligible...with my 18 years in UK, own house and good permanent job! Something is wrong with this bank...

I was with them for 27 years, and overall not bad. It was a while ago, and I joined as a student.
They did make a small mistake on something, it was 100% clear, and my then manager (they changed frequently) would not take responsibility, and I lost £300. A more junior staff member admitted that as my instructions were noted, the bank would ultimately have to refund, but the manager made it impossible with the Ombudsman. In fairness I was not huge loss to them, but they were pathetic with a friends v v wealthy parents, the bank seemed to lack commercial acumen.
To make it clear my experience is over 10 years ago.
I don't agree with Farage, but he, nor anyone else, should be treated in this manner

Your business is to provide a banking service and not try to suppress freedom of speech. Badly done

Your better off banking with the Tandoori Chop house round the corner. At least they don't share your details with the bbc and close an account.
Coutts.. for people who still think Burberry is cool.

Dictators - their treatment of Farage is a really worrying development. I believe previous/current customers include Dictators, mafia bosses and some sketchy Russians, so this reeks of hypocrisy.

Probably a good bank as long you agree with their politics, keep your head down, and don't upset the CEO by having your own opinions. They might even let you make a withdrawal. Be prepared find your personal account information being disseminated accross the land via the BBC though. Perhaps familiarise yourself with subject access requests so that when they in collaboration with the BBC tell the world a lie about the reason for closing your account, you can actually obtain some semblance of the truth.. which is ofcourse.. they don't like your opinions.

Many of the reviews on here are clearly from non account holders with Couts. I am. So here is my experiance of 21 years vs a couple of other accounts I hold with normal high street banks and unlike all highstreet banks, Couts places its money with other banking institutions around the world to mitigate any risk to its customers, example Barings Bank.
If a problem arrises I get to talk to my account manager. There is rarely an issue but my manager has been the same for the past 4 years and it is settled quickly and amicably. I pay a £900 flat fee for the account per year which gives me certain other benefits you do not get in any other bank and for another £2800 I get a investment manager who puts my money to work and recomends investments. The more money you have with them the more services "unlock" and I at present get a concierge service which realy comes in handy. There is a minimum amount you have to have invested, either cash or loans with Couts and if you fall below this they will terminate you account. In my first year I nearly fell foul of this because of cashflow in my business. Overall Couts is far better than any highstreet bank by a long margine. Which is why those with wealth tend to use them.

I am duslexic, is you can read this, fine.

Shocked at the political banning.

I'm a shareholder and, strewth, even I despise these Cads. Give me my money back you bounders.

My recent experience with Coutts, once a respected institution, has left me feeling thoroughly disappointed and compelled to sever ties with the bank. It is disheartening to witness the bank's transformation into a veritable thought police, as evidenced by their decision to close down accounts solely based on clients' political views.

The concept of a bank should be synonymous with trust and financial security, but Coutts' actions have shattered that perception. To witness the institution that I once regarded as reliable and impartial exhibit such blatant disregard for the principles of free expression and diversity of thought is deeply troubling.

As a customer, I had hoped that Coutts would prioritise integrity and fairness over political biases. However, their discriminatory practices have demonstrated otherwise. Closing accounts based solely on differing political views is a clear violation of the principles that should underpin the banking industry.

In light of these revelations, I am compelled to sever my relationship with Coutts. It is disheartening to realize that a bank can succumb to such arbitrary decision-making, compromising the financial security and trust of its clients. I had anticipated a better standard from a reputable institution like Coutts.

For those seeking a bank that values diversity of opinion and treats their customers with respect, I would urge you to explore alternative options. Coutts' recent actions are indicative of an institution that is out of touch with the principles of fairness and open discourse.

In conclusion, my experience with Coutts has been deeply disappointing, and I cannot, in good conscience, continue to associate myself with a bank that suppresses free expression and makes account closure decisions based on political views. I hope that Coutts takes a critical look at its practices and works towards regaining the trust and confidence of its customers in the future.

Coutts online access for business customers has died. Well it stopped working Thursday 29th June and it's still down on 2 July. Worse, this has happened over the month end deadline for making our payments - which we can't action!
Coutts Digital helpdesk say it's a compatibility problem with TalkTalk, BT and Three only.
There's been no solution offered and no workaround.
Or maybe we've been cancelled because we support Farage?

I have been a client since 1999 and remain delighted with the service. Things inevitably go wrong sometimes but they are always dealt with to my satisfaction. As for the comments below regarding closure of accounts…don’t believe everything that comes out of the person involved…there are valid reasons why people have their accounts closed, normally around financial mismanagement.

Been a customer of 20 years, the service is nothing like it used to be, the online system is a disaster, service is very very poor. I've switched to first direct.
... I wonder if I will get a computer-generated reply like the rest of this long list of similarly poor ratings - a pretty typical example of how Coutts treat customers

It took 11 minutes to receive a required authorisation code for my debit card...what isa Coutts using? Pony Express...truly a useless service...