The Royal Bank of Scotland Reviews 

Major difficulties with current account application.
Despite promises from 10 agents to resolve the problem and spending 8 hours on the phone over 7 days the account has not been opened in joint names.
Case referred to Ombudsman.

Were completely unhelpful , kept asking me to resubmit a document they had already rejected , saying it had been edited and the font was wrong on the bill !!! Nothing resolved and still no bank account . Why is it so hard to do such a simple thing as open a bank account ?

I had a complaint about the app not working and got my resolution reviewed as it was completely nonsense. They outsource there complaints to company’s in India with no phone number only email. If your trying to sort out a complaint it gets very difficult if there in India with no phone only email. The level of customer service is nonexistent. It’s taken me 3 months to get an answer and it was nonsense. I have been misled misinformed and LIED to several times by members of staff who don’t care about the customer because there watching the clock. I was looking forward to going with this bank and having a good relation ship but that has now gone. Been told to many lies. Now I am going to take this further to the financial ombudsman. Avoid this bank like the plague! If I could rate them zero I would. It’s been awful it feels like they are just taking the mick out of you. Now I have to go through all this hassle again with the financial ombudsman.

Very difficult to deal with, online advice contradicts advice given by call handlers. Trying to help very elderly relatives with an account issue and RBS seem to lack any empathy and common sense. Cora is useless and seems to develop technical issues when straightforward questions are asked. 2 weeks of repeated calls and waiting for activation codes to be sent and no further forward. No local branches either.

Ive been with rbs for over 20 years and for the life of me I dont no why they've always been useless.

RBS Customer Service appalling. Promised to call me back numerous times and didn't, promised to email and didn't. Lost all the payees from my account and can't explain it. Absolutely terrible

I have banked with RBS for about 15 years. I have always been the type to save up and buy outright.
They were constantly offering me credit cards/ loans and mortgages.

Until i recently decided to treat myself and buy a new car using a loan as I am constantly getting offers for low interest loans.
Flat out rejected, perfect credit score, no debts, never missed payment etc.
Called to arrange a meeting with the bank manager, went to the meeting to be offered every type of insurance under the sun and once I mentioned the loan she simply asked me to take my phone out and do it on that. Obviously having the same outcome.

Absolutely shocking

I opened a fixed rate ISA (4.27%) in November 2025 and instructed RBS to request funds to be transferred in from elsewhere.
Anyway RBS have put the funds in an Instant Access ISA at just over 1%, which I have never opened.
I have obviously complained.
RBS Complaint Handler found I had no case.
I responded…
The same Complaints Handler responds stating:
‘I’ve independently reviewed the investigation’ (it’s the same person that dealt with the complaint initially so is not independent) that clearly has some training need.

Avoid, Avoid, Avoid…

I have been a customer since the Williams & Glynn days and can honestly say that until about 20 years ago their customer service was excellent. However, due to a steady but consistent decline I no longer use them as my main bank but keep my account open for back up purposes only. There are two questionable policy decisions I wish to comment on. The first concerns branch closures. My own (and presumably many others) became totally customer unfriendly by removing cashiers and directing customers to a sophisticated in branch ATM to conduct their transactions. The logical anticipated outcome, working on the principle that customers would opt for online banking in the comfort of their own home if they had to do it all themselves anyway, would be the reduction in footfall necessary to justify branch closure. By forcing customers online or elsewhere by they achieved their objective and my branch closed a few years ago. The second issue is something I only suspect and cannot prove and therefore cannot technically be referred to as a policy decision but concerns insurance. I had always organised my home insurance with RBS on an annual auto renew basis. Until this year the renewal proposal would arrive in the post at least 3 weeks before it was due, thus giving me plenty of time to check details including the premium. Had I not phoned them I would not have known that my premium had increased by 300% despite never having claimed! This year the documents arrived on the same day that the policy auto renewed, dated some 5 weeks prior to renewal but I suspect that postage was deliberately delayed as according to amended term and conditions cancellation charges are now effective from day 1 rather than free of charge for the first two weeks of the new policy. Fortunately, because I had phoned them to find out how much my annual direct debit payment would be I had time to shop around for an alternative provider and cancel my auto renewal and policy but had I been complacent and assumed that the premium would be roughly the same I would now be finding myself with the onerous task of claiming a refund less cancellation charges. Whilst anyone similarly affected by this massive and unjustified hike in their premium would be entitled to cancel and request a refund, RBS will now be making a tidy sum in cancellation charges, if they are deliberately delaying postage. All of my other mail has been delivered without unnecessary delays or issues which has resulted in the above mentioned suspicions.

Utterly awful customer service - when you finally get a response from a real human after it repeatedly fails to figure out what information you need, the human will take ten hours to respond and then copy paste some information that doesn't assist you at all. Get through on the phone and you can deal with sulky, sighing cs reps following the same flow chart as the robot. Get ready for a hair-raising experience if you ever have to do anything high value.

Awful on line banking app and cora the AI help is useless

Wanted to raise a dispute 08/04/26. Was put through to a young woman who was really unhelpful,.. directing me to do it myself if i have access to the internet,... she doesnt know my circumstances. Very poor service,. who trains these people??

Got an email from RBS saying that my new select account was all set up. Problem is I didn't set up an account, and the partial postcode given in the email by them wasn't mine.
I tried to call RBS, but, unless you're a customer, the automated service is not interested.
I sent in a written complaint, but this can take weeks.
Branches are non existant.
So, I'm left not knowing what's going on.

4 years ago my account was frowzen by the fraud department and when i asked what they were querying they refused to give me the reason and told me that I should know what they were talking about. My account has never been unfrozen and more recently my account has been closed by them. They have done the same thing with my brother and so he is closing his account as soon as he can. RBS fraud department should be reveiwed and closed as the attitude it totally unacceptable

Solicitor didnt pay the correct amount, contacted RBS who refused to communicate with the conveyancer. Now have the first ever default notice we have ever had.All from the bailed out bank, useless, unprofessional.

I am a digitally-literate legal Executor managing a 64-year family history with RBS, yet I have spent over 8 hours today obstructed by a process that offers no mechanism for resolution.
The bank offers "24/7" support, but it feels like being welcomed through a grand front door into a building that is entirely empty. There is a digital assistant at the desk, but no one inside the building has the authority to actually help with a complex estate settlement.
My attempt to distribute verified house-sale proceeds began at 11:52 AM. I was immediately pulled into an automated "death spiral" that ignored my specific queries about payment limits and simply repeated basic website information I had already resolved. By 12:03 PM, I was forced to request a human colleague, only to be told I faced a 4-hour wait for a response.
When a human finally joined the chat, the experience did not improve. I was forced into a communication style where every single follow-up was met with a near-hour delay. At 5:10 PM, I asked for a solution for the estate distribution; I received a response at 5:44 PM. At 5:58 PM, I asked about the timescale for an executor account; a response did not arrive until 6:55 PM. It is impossible to fulfill a fiduciary duty when a bank takes an hour to reply to every sentence.
The most frustrating element was the selective monitoring of the chat. My initial mention of a "formal complaint" at 7:13 PM went unanswered, yet a more detailed complaint at 7:39 PM received an instant response. This proves the chat was being monitored in real-time, but my earlier pleas for help were ignored until I hit a regulatory keyword. Furthermore, after being promised a response "within the hour" at 6:55 PM, I was eventually told the team required to help had actually closed at 4:00 PM.
What is the purpose of a 24/7 chat if the teams with the authority to resolve complex issues actually work 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM? This service model is entirely incompatible with professional work commitments. Relying on automated bots and hour-long delays to handle a Grant of Probate and an April 5th tax deadline is a dereliction of duty. RBS needs to empower its messaging staff with actual authority and ensure that "24/7" support is a functional reality, not just architectural window dressing.

Really poor service.
Essentially allowed a company to steal money on my credit card. Documents sent multiple times but claim they don't have them.

I recently tried to open an account however got stuck when having to upload ID docs via Mitek

It appears many other people have had the same problem

Why do you hate your customers?

So after 33 years of being with these corrupt clowns today I closed all my accounts. I want to buy my wife some jewellery and sent money to pay bank stopped it said it could be fraud they rang me told me if I did not have the jewellery in front of me they would freeze the transaction and would only send the money once I had the goods!!!! So that's how the world works according to them. Dealing with a box ticking FEI uneducated fraud team( clueless scum). She refused to honour my payment MY MONEY. As I was buying my wife something I was buying camera equipment for myself and did another transfer which showed as done!! Later found out they did not send that money either but HAD FROZEN ALL MY ACCOUNTS FOR NO REASON OR EXPLANATION!!!!!
MY MONEY IN ACCOUNTS WITH ME SPEAKING AND TELLING THEM I KNEW IT WAS LIGIT AND FOR THEM TO DO AS I ASKED!!!
WHO DO THESE SCUMBAGS THINK THEY ARE!!!!
ANYONE WHO HAS PROBLEMS MAKE A OFFICIAL COMPLAINT ASK FOR THE COMPLAINT REF NO AND REPORT TO OMBUDSMAN!!!!
IT WILL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE BUT Every COMPLAINT TO OMBUDSMAN COST THIS JOKE OF A BANK £400
BYE BYE HOPE TO SEE YOU GO BUST VERY SOON

I recently decided to buy a car polishing product that received huge praise as to how good it was. I paid the £20-plus cost and then, on looking further into this company, became somewhat alarmed at what I read. According to many reports the product was pretty rubbish.
And then, to my astonishment, up came the message that my payment had been declined by RBS.
I called my branch in Inverness and was quickly put in touch with the "fraud squad".
Happy days. They already knew about this dodgy firm and had blocked my payment, no doubt along with many other customers why had fallen for the fancy sales tolk.
RBS had frozen my debit card in case it had been stolen and used by the thief.
In a few minutes I answered the necessary security questions and my card was back in business.
So many thanks to RBS in Inverness and at head office for looking after my interests.
I have been an RBS customer for well over 50 years and have always found staff at the Inverness branch to be gold star people. Now the same goes for the "fraud squad". Thank you all.