NatWest offer an extensive personal banking products include bank accounts, mortgages, credit cards, loans and banking products.
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NatWest: Where “Digital First” Means “Customer Last”
I’ve been a long-standing NatWest customer, and this has been the worst banking experience I can remember.
After my father passed away in December, I needed to remove him from our joint account and add my partner instead. This account runs all our household bills. I was explicitly told in branch that once my father was removed, I would be able to add someone else.
That turned out to be completely untrue.
What followed was weeks of circular, exhausting bureaucracy:
The app repeatedly refused to add my partner, with vague messages saying he “couldn’t be added to this type of account”
Chat agents admitted the process is “fully digital” and that no one can see why it fails
Telephone banking told me they can’t help because it’s digital
Branch staff told me they can’t help and to use the digital chat
Digital chat told me to go to branch or try something else
No one could explain eligibility criteria
No one could override the system
No one could take ownership
As a workaround, my partner opened his own NatWest account. He was approved immediately.
I then tried again to add him to the exact same account type I had just switched mine to.
Rejected again.
I even removed the overdraft and downgraded the account type in case that was the issue.
Still rejected.
Still no explanation.
Still no human able to help.
At multiple points I was told, effectively, “the system has decided” and that was the end of the conversation.
Let me be clear:
This is not a credit issue.
This is not an eligibility issue.
This is a broken process, and NatWest has removed every human pathway that could resolve it.
What’s most alarming isn’t the technical failure, it’s the cultural one.
NatWest has built systems that:
Can’t explain their own decisions
Can’t be overridden
Can’t be interrogated
And leave loyal customers stuck in endless loops with no accountability
When something goes wrong, there is no one empowered to fix it.
Being “digital-first” should mean faster, clearer, easier.
At NatWest, it now means faceless, inflexible, and impossible.
If you value being able to speak to someone, get clear answers, or resolve non-standard life events like bereavement, I would strongly suggest reconsidering who you bank with.
I never wanted to move banks.
NatWest is forcing the issue. I am still awaiting a clear explanation and resolution.