Any way to speak to a Nat West Business Advisor

What is it you actually need? Most of the banks have offshore support for small business banking - which works with mixed results sometimes

Primarily to talk about providing a Performance Bond Guarantee to my main customer on contracts - blurb on the website says you must speak to your relationship manager first. Ok, don't have one of those

Secondly, I need to set up a tax saving account alongside my main business account as recently gone Gross Payment, rather than CIS deductions

I recently had a similar challenge but with HSBC - I tried calling several times but in the end it took two trips to a branch before I finally got a named (UK-based) contact.

Unfortunately id say it's a case of walk-in into a branch and arrange an appointment.....

Any good? Scroll to the bottom

<br /><br /> https://www.natwest.com/support-centre/contact-us.html

Your relationship manager (should you have one - maybe you’ll just have a generic business specialist in a branch) will need to approve a credit line for a performance bond. You may need to provide cash collateral to secure it.

The same person will also be able to start account opening I’d have thought. I’d try going into branch or ring the following 0345 number. I assume you tried the ‘Cora’ chat and that’s what didn’t work very well!

I tried to set up a Business account call back with NatWest 3 times in November 2023. They confirmed date/time etc each time then no call.

They finally called back a week ago from a November 07 request... Said they'd been a bit busy 🙄

Different bank and different requirements, I've just done a simmilar thing today.

I find unless you want a simple product you can just sign up for online, you are better off phoning up just to arrange an in person meeting, in branch.

That way you can talk through your requirements and what options they have (if there are some you may not have considered).

Migrate your account to somewhere less customer-hostile?

Nat West turned me over back when I was a student, I was late in paying a student grant payment (remember those? Halcyon days when I thought I was broke) and they responded by closing my account. Viz were (ahem) bang on the money decades back.

you are better off phoning up just to arrange an in person meeting, in branch.

And therein lies the problem....

Ask Nigel, he’ll sort you out 

ring the following 0345 number

I did....

And therein lies the problem….

Could you go into a branch to book an appointment? probably won't get one the same week, unless you are lucky, but if the phone option is too difficult...
One technique I use on the phone with banks etc, is to follow the options so the call is routed to 'savings and investments' dept. or whatever, and then just stay silent when it asks you to key in details etc...after 'sorry I didn't get that' gets played a few times it will put you through to a human...

That way you tend to be routed to someone who can talk some sense, rather than general call desk operatives...if they think they are going to get 'new business' out of you.

There aren’t many branches left anymore…

Google tells me that the England branch of NatWest can be found at 250 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4AA. The Scottish branch is 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, EH2 2YB

Be careful with India - I get so many phonecalls from Hotpoint to BT to Microsoft saying I have a problem with my appliances or service and wanting to help.

Unfortunately my washing machine is a Bosch, my internet provider is Sky and I haven't used my personal computer in years!

Seems I’m spectacularly lucky in not only having a branch of my bank in town, I have my Account Manager’s personal mobile number, and when I’ve had an issue a couple of times, I’ve left a message and had a response within a couple of minutes. When I wanted to buy my current car, I needed to arrange a loan and we did it over the phone while I was sat in the dealership.

We’re on first name terms, I consider her a friend, and she has been of immense help over the years. Seems that sort of relationship is incredibly rare these days, sadly.

Seems I’m spectacularly lucky

Not lucky.. they want business...as soon as they have a sniff that you have some money to invest, all of a sudden it's not so much as what sort of account you want, it's more like, what is sir's prefence in coffee? 😉

They will fall all over themselves to sell you a product if you have a reasonable ammount of money to invest, or a big turnover.

It's just business, and they want commision, so bare that in mind when hunting for deals.

big turnover

What do you class as big?

My turnover can generally fluctuate between £100-300k. This financial year to date I'm at £300k in 6 months, that will rise to £1.2 million by the close of the financial year with orders already secured.

Next year if I can secure a performance bond, will probably get close to £2mill. If I can't, it will probably shrink to £100k

Ain't no one offering me coffee

I'd say it's big enough to warrant a face to face meeting.
And if they offer you coffee from a vending machine, find a new bank to do business with! red flag right there!

I jest, but you need them to work for you as you work for them, other banks are available, it's just business at the end of the day.

When I was setting up my business bank account I arranged a meeting with the business advisor for 2 weeks later.

I turned up at the Natwest branch (George St, Edinburgh) to be told that the person I was supposed to be meeting had left the business and there was no one else available to deal with me. A phone call ahead of the no show would have been nice 😁

Idiots.

I now do my business banking with Starling.

Watching with interest...

My business account is with Mettle (Natwest)  but they're kindly going to change my account number and sort code later this year which will play havoc with invoicing, so I'm taking the opportunity to change to a new account altogether.