Cater Allen Business Bank Account

I've had a CA business account for 11 years.

It was marked as dormant two years ago, as i had not completed any contract work.

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 (another) letter last week; not received.

THREE weeks and account still cannot be used.

Convoluted and outdated process; deliberately incompetent staff.

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

This is the worst bank I've ever dealt with.

Their online banking only shows you your balances and transactions. You can't do anything without phoning them. The people on the phone are nice but clearly also frustrated with the systems "oh sorry, it won't allow me to do that" or "I don't know, I can't see that".

Everything is paper and phone based, it's like banking in the 80's. They don't pay any interest and charge high fees for basic services like making a transfer. Their internal systems are a mess. They don't have logs of what's happened, you can't escalate a complaint, you will spend hours going in circles.

I've closed all my accounts and given up, don't bother as you'll regret it!

This has got to be the WORST bank in existence in my opinion. 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.

Set up new business account two months ago but never been able to use. They don't do what they say and won't deal with your complaints. Complete waste of time and effort. Unless you just want to gift this bank all your business earnings and never see them again. Best avoided.

Roughly the end of 2019 when they were meant to have UPGRADED their systems everything went downhill. Constantly being greeted with 'No Accounts' or 'No Statements' or similar, and unable to check statements, transfer money or find customer 'service' reps who cared. I finally closed my account and would not use them again if I ever required corporate banking. They couldn't even be bothered acknowledging requests (pre-covid btw). AVOID at all costs!

My experience (which costed me thousands of pounds): terrible services; deeply disrespectful; most dreadful customer service.

Cater Allen does not fulfil any of the minimum customer expectations.

As usual, Santander downgraded a customer-oriented UK business to the most disappointing banking organisation.

My understanding is that they current aim is to discourage existing customers to keep banking with them, only because they've not been able to provide the same level of customer satisfaction since they took over.

I've now moved all my assets to a well established British bank.

When opening those new accounts, I did wonder: why did I ever bank with Santander/CA??

This bank has been a joke!

I have been with them over 8 years.

Endless mistakes and incorrect balance, has given me a number of payments back from the bank.

Don't ask for a balance as your card balance is the real one, not reflected in your main balance.

More recently phoning the bank now takes over 40 mins with no apologies.

My advice don't open an account with them, I would find a bank with a front door or better internet functions

We are a small business that uses Cater Allen as our main bank account. Customers pay into this account, and we pay employees from it as well.

The online banking system is extremely antiquated - payments take 24 hours (48 if you make a payment after 4pm), and it's impossible to add payees/change details without having to phone up. It is a very 'bare bones' system, with zero written guidance or explanation about any of its online services.

Due to the lack of information online, I have phoned up on two different occasions to ask very simple questions. As I am not the Company Director (and therefore the account isn't in my name), they refuse to even answer a very broad enquiry about a term used on the online system. I would understand if I wanted to know about details specifically relating to the bank account, but today I made it clear at the start of the conversation that I wasn't expecting any information about the account itself. The lady I spoke to rudely went on to accuse me of committing fraud, and when I said, "Please could you just tell me what this term means?", responded very coldly. Looking back, I should have just not bothered to explain who I was and just asked the question.

This whole exchange wasted valuable time for us this afternoon, and has resulted in the late payment of an employee - all because simple information isn't listed on the online banking system and we weren't able to meet the ridiculous 4pm payment deadline.

It is totally unsuitable for small businesses, and I honestly can't believe we are spending money on this service.

Was recommended by my accountant but from the get-go everything has been terrible. Lots of forms for sign up. Then received about 7 pieces of mail with various passwords. A 2 layer password system is ridiculous (you enter a different 3 letters each time, not type the password which would be easier). And I locked myself out once because it is ridiculous trying to remember all these passwords and the only solution was to post me a new passcode which would take 3 days. Everything is just hard. Also when I make bank transfers it takes about 3 days to other banks. I currently have a payment pending that I started 5 days ago. Do not use these guys no matter what!!

No overdraft

No loan

No credit cards

Slow online bank payments (2 days typical)

Debit card with the drawback of a credit card (gets charged like one)