Cater Allen Private Bank - London

Stacey H.

Awful company, awful service!
I would not recommend to anyone at all!
This company does not care about anyone’s needs, regardless of knowing what difficult situations people are in when they need to change the trustees/take money out for emergency’s.
Was informed by a member of staff it can take up to a working week to change the trustees on the account once they got all the forms back. A few weeks later this was still not done, when reaching out it was confirmed the trustee needed to send ID for the application to complete. We reached out and asked if this had been sent to the trustee, to which they confirmed they had not reached out. (This was four days later). So the paperwork was sat there for nearly another week! Bear in mind they knew the circumstances that I needed MY money as an emergency!
Best thing I ever did was shut down my account, and I recommend that everyone else does the same!

Saurabh D.

Terrible Service from Cater Allen Private Bank – Avoid at All Costs!

I am extremely disappointed with the shocking service from Cater Allen Private Bank. Without any prior warning, they decided to block my 16-year-old business account simply because one of their letters was not delivered to my address.

They did not bother to call or send an email to notify me—basic steps that any competent bank should take. I only discovered that my account had been blocked when I attempted to make a crucial VAT payment. Had I not proactively called them to investigate, my direct debits would have been rejected, potentially harming my credit score.

This level of incompetence is completely unacceptable. A business bank should understand the consequences of blocking an account without warning. The lack of communication and disregard for their customers is appalling.

As a result, I will be switching my business account to a more reliable bank—one that actually values its customers and understands the importance of proper communication. I strongly advise others to avoid Cater Allen if they want a bank they can trust.

Lucinda S.

No App for banking, no business loan availability, bit behind the times in many aspects - not set up for business account switching etc - but transfers are instant and they keep your money safe. Known brand. I am leaving them though after 10 years as I don’t want to boot up my PC each time I want to do banking or struggle doing it on the phone. Want the ease of an App like my personal account banking. Other than this I don’t really have any complaints.

David P.

I've been a Cater Allen business account customer for 11 years.
My account was marked as dormant two years ago, as i had not completed any contract work in that time.

Contacted them mid-July to re-activate account; apparently Depositing money to it does not re-activate it.

Now the 12th August; they were supposed to be sending a (yet another) letter mid last week; still not received.
THREE weeks and account still cannot be used.

In this time my client has inadvertently sent £700 odd to the account; the provider have not received it back and yet CA staff maintain that it has not been received & would be rejected in the first place (bound to be in a CA holding account).

Convoluted and outdated processes; deliberately incompetent staff.

CA, you have no comprehension of the word 'business' and have no right to use it for your 'service'.

Jack W.

Words cannot describe the terrible service that this bank offers.

An online banking service.. and what is their main form of communication?! The post!

I would have more trust in a spam email from the Crown Prince of Nigeria, than I do with Cater Allen. Worst bank the economy has ever seen. How their business remains viable is beyond me.

Oksana W.

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!

David M.

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

Jack K.

Terrible customer service. Can hardly understand the strong Indian accent. She hung up half way through trying to give me the postcode. Please employ people without strong accents. Just unprofessional.