Cater Allen Private Bank

I have been dealing with Cater Allen due to a company taking fees from my pension account without permission. They were quick and efficient in responding to the initial complaint. It will need to be investigated and I hope they can recover the funds as the company responsible are not even responding to my communication.

I've banked with Cater Allen for over 10 years. Faultless customer services. Only lose half a star for not having a mobile banking system (Android/IOS) and a slightly dated website.

Ok while a little (ahem) "behind the curve" on the tech front, don’t let that put you off – I have been a customer for well over 20 years - wonderful friendly, helpful UK based customer service on the phone (never a long waiting time in my experience, to speak to a “real” person!) - never had a bad experience. Tried, trusted and highly recommended.

Consistently exellent service over more than 10 years of my being a customer.

FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMERS

20 years of excellent service. What more can you ask of a bank.

Almost two decades ago my parents were advised to put their insurance payouts into Cater Allen bank. However, withdrawing the money has been a lengthy and frustrating experience. As their money was never touched due to it being ringfenced for future needs, it was labelled a ‘dormant account’. Getting the dormancy lifted has been arduous and costly, despite me explaining to Cater Allen that I now needed it to pay for my 100 year old father’s care home.
Cater Allen’s systems and procedures are clearly bureaucratic and archaic. The way they communicated with me was by letter, sent second class, and all the different staff in the call centre seemed to be not communicating with each other at all. Each time I provided them with the information they requested, it was thrown back at me for some indeterminate reason and I felt as if I was being treated like a criminal; it was all very upsetting.
One extra complication was that the solicitor who previously certified my power of attorney documents way back then, had died, so I was required to see a new solicitor, three times. After several months, I managed to transfer my father’s money and finally close down the dreaded Cater Allen account. Two weeks after it was closed down, I received another letter from Cater Allen, second class naturally, telling me that if I do not provide them with confirmation of my name and address within fourteen days, then ‘they will be unable to update the account’.
In conclusion, do not use this bank!

Don't touch this Bank with a barge pole. It took over six weeks and five separate requests - each leading to a new and different set of instructions we had to comply with - to get the funds transferred, and the account closed. They then charged $40 for making the transfer. It is the worst bank customer service I have ever experienced. David Mills

If you like websites which don't work, banking processes from the 1800s, and the act of repeatedly shouting your frustration into the abyss, then I highly recommend this organisation.

If you would like your bank to be a bank, use literally anybody else. Put your money under the mattress before you put it into Cater Allen.

Been a customer for 9 years or so. Card declined today for a US payment to supplier. Three phone calls later and multiple promises that card was unblocked, and our US supplier still cannot take the payment. Second time they said the card had not been unblocked properly.

Third call and I waited from 1745 until 1800 on hold, at which point the line closed for the weekend.

Oh and the online banking is laughably bad. Designed by a toddler! Awful.

NOT OK

I’m banking with Cater Allen for more than 15 years. Used to be a reasonable bank. The last 3 years is going down the hill. The new website is so primitive, I don't know who approved that. Customer service used to answer phone calls in less than minutes, now is the same as you call the insurance company. It takes a minimum of 15 minutes. I hope they change for their good.

Three weeks and still waiting for my account to be reactivated after they made account dormant for not been in use. Looks like a bank from the 80s and stuck there. Take two weeks to post a letter, no way of signing paperwork online, been a week since said letter was posted back and still not actioned. There is bad service, then there is Cater Allen service.

My account has been made 'dormant' for some reason. I was asked to send a letter (who is sending actual letters these days for this reason?!) ask them to reinstate the account and sign it. I haven't heard anything from them so I called and got to know I have to wait for the letter from them and sign again then post it back ?!?! Seriously?! Is it a joke or something? As a result I still do not have access to my account and nobody can tell when I will be able to access it.

I have been waiting over 2 years for Cater Allen's "super-duper" new website to launch. When it finally did in October 2020, I almost left off my chair laughing. Seriously, who on earth commissioned and signed off on this piece of junk? It's bugging, heinous and frustrating to use, not to mention the obvious lack of security features. Never has a bank been more out of touch with it's customers. After years of putting it off, finally the pain of banking with Cater Allen is outweighed by the hassle of moving banks. That's another customer you have lost.

This is the worst bank I've ever had. Held my account for no reason would not talk to me over the phone or respond to my letters. They are holding £170k my business is now going under. My customers have all paid in for stock and cater Allen refunded them all 2 weeks later. So now I'm back tracking to try get my money back of the customers. I would avoid this bank and not risk going through what I'm going through with them. AVOID AVOID

This bank is an abomination. My wife (a lawyer) set up her company account with them, on the recommendation of her accountant. She misplaced her online security login details as we moved home, and they refused to speak with her on the phone unless she could confirm the balance of her account, which she could only find out by logging in (which she obviously could not do). Cater Allen then placed a hold on her account because she had changed address, but would only send correspondence to our old address. She has provided proof of her new address and sent numerous letters requesting access to her account and received no response. They refuse to even discuss the matter on the telephone because she cannot confirm her account balance (which she clearly has no way of finding out), and this has been ongoing for almost a year. Cater Allen have effectively stolen nearly £100,000 from my wife, meaning I have had to entirely support her and all tax liabilities for her company for this time, and they remain completely unresponsive. Pursuit of this via the Financial Ombudsman is taking a huge amount of time, and Cater Allen's failure to respond or provide any viable route of resolution is horrific. Avoid this joke of a bank at all costs.