On the 04th December 2023 I attended an appointment at NatWest Bank Sittingbourne Kent branch
It was arranged that I went for an account opening interview with Mr Adam Barnes the Premier Select Account Manager
I went into the account opening interview with Mr Adam Barnes at NatWest Bank Sittingbourne Kent branch
Mr Adam Barnes asked me if I had my mobile phone with me
At the time of the account opening interview I did not have my mobile phone with me
I had to go home to collect my mobile phone
Returned to NatWest Bank Sittingbourne Kent branch with my mobile phone
It worked out that I was required to have my mobile phone with me as I had to do part of the opening of the NatWest Bank Premier Select Account on the NatWest Bank website
Mr Adam Barnes asked me if I had any proof of identity with me. At this point of time all I had was my UK British passport for which was accepted as my account opening application identity
NatWest Bank did not agree that I had the correct proper passport and there was a doubt about my personal identity
Mr Adam Barnes took my UK British passport to the branch manager of NatWest Bank Sittingbourne as Mr Adam Barnes wanted clarification that the UK British passport that I had produced for personal identity was proper and correct. My UK British passport was certified by the NatWest Bank Sittingbourne Kent branch Manager
Mr Adam Barnes then came back to me and we started the process of the account opening interview process
Mr Adam Barnes then went online at the NatWest Bank website to do the account opening process of NatWest Bank Premier Select Account
I was with Mr Adam Barnes NatWest Bank Premier Select Account Manager for about one hour to do the NatWest Bank Premier Select Account opening process
I left NatWest Bank Sittingbourne Kent branch with some hope that all had gone well and that I was on the way to having a NatWest Bank Premier Select Account
About a week or so passed
I received a letter from NatWest Bank London to inform me that I had failed the application of opening a new NatWest Bank Premier Select Account this was because I had a 0% credit rating
I spoke with an account manager at NatWest Bank London to ask as to what went wrong with the account opening of a NatWest Bank Premier Select Account
Apparently my credit rating was not good enough to open a NatWest Bank Premier Select Account
I asked to what process was used to come to that conclusion
Apparently NatWest Bank use credit rating agencies to check out credit rating
I was informed that NatWest Bank use the credit rating agencies Equifax and Experian
Also NatWest Bank have their own credit rating process
I made contact with the credit rating agencies Equifax and Experian credit rating agencies to ask for a personal credit rating report to find out what I had on my credit rating reports
Both Equifax and Experian credit rating agencies came back to me with the credit rating reports
I was absolutely credit clean there was absolutely nothing wrong with my credit rating
I sent a copy of both of the credit rating reports from Equifax and Experian to NatWest Bank London to dispute the charge of bad credit rating from NatWest Bank.
I got absolutely no apology from NatWest Bank for the stress and anxiety
I told NatWest Bank London that I DID NOT trust NatWest Bank
NatWest Bank never ever had any comments to my challenge to NatWest Bank about doing the credit rating on myself
NatWest Bank said absolutely nil/zero about the NatWest Bank credit rating process as I wanted to know as to how NatWest Bank came up with a decision on my credit rating of 0%. NatWest Bank stayed absolutely silent and never ever responded to my challenge/complaint about the NatWest Bank system for doing credit rating process checking on new prospective customers to NatWest Bank
I stayed with my current bank

On November 22nd 2023, I was finally able to report fraud on the account, I received later in the day an email claiming that my claim had been successful, that I would receive the money by the end of the next business day, I am still waiting.

They back-slid on that promise, and no matter how many times I call them, or explain the situation, give the number on the form they sent, they will not return the money - its not that they directly state
Over the phone that they will not return the money, they are just making it clear without doing that.

Then I found that there is a FCA rules covering this type of situation, that provides a guideline to follow, and as Natwest claim they are regulated by the FCA they should be following this guideline, but you try telling them that, one such instance I had the phone put down on myself with the bloke saying repeatedly "I'm sorry" as he did so.

Of late have been asking for written confirmation that they will not be following the FCA rules or returning the stolen money; I have called them repeatedly for this confirmation, but none is coming; they have put the phone down, transferred to another section who does the same, and when I refuse to give account information unless they guarantee that they will send the letter, they try their best to manipulate myself with phrases such as "I will look into it", "I will try to help", I cant help if I do not have account information", "maybe I will help", but I hold steady.

I have called them so many times that it is quite clear that they are not their to help the account holder - just themselves, and when their verbal manipulation fails, they resort to making an self-serving excuse, that entirely helps them to keep their job statements such as "as this conversation is going in circles", or "as you do not need my help I am ending the call" - just to make sure they can get the job covering message on the recording, and don't forget having the last word either, for the same end.

Indeed, Natwests whole MO is to hold the customer over-a-barrel until Natwest gets what they want, even if its already been done, with a vague promise that maybe they will help – even the word help is vague, as I have come ro understand.

This sitaution has been quite revealing of Natwest bank, its statement that they are there to help, the call is important to them.

You have to find it ironic, that companies seek customer experiece, yet will simultaneously do something like this – its illogical.