Cater Allen

This is a bank with services from 1983. Don't use them unless you are nostalgic for banking from that era. Don't expect an app, don't expect anything that involves technology from this century. Don't expect their services to be on-par with any other 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!

I've had years of issues. From them deciding if you don't use the account for 6 months they close it. Its a trust, if there for specific costs, not daily use. It took them 4 months to reopen it and 2 weeks later I had a letter saying it had been close again as I hadn't used it, 2 weeks.
Now they decided to send my urgent paperwork regarding a death of a trustee I informed them about in April 2021, in December 2022 they need more information and a whole new application done.
I have 30 days yet 11 days have gone since the date on the letter! A common problem I've had, alone with wrong addresses used.
Please do not use this company. It was set up by the third party and if I'd seen the name and reviews I'd have refused it.
Honestly, they've had me in tears more times than I can count.

This has got to be the WORST bank in existence. They recently “updated” their online banking system but it's just as bad as the old one. The functionality is simply not there and getting to do ANYTHING with this bank is so incredibly laboursome and complicated that it literally makes me want to scream in frustration. I will be closing my account at the end of May, I endured their atrocious services for 4 years merely because I couldn't bring myself to deal with their horrific processes but enough is enough: I can't even initiate a payment now, the system wouldn't allow me without stating the issue.

Please listen to these reviews and stay away from this bank and look for another provider, trust me, you will be much better off and thanking all of us later.