COUTTS Bank - how much to be a customer?

never-in-doubt

agsnu wrote: »

Self-employed don't pay Class 1 NI contributions, they pay Class 2 & 4.

thanks but I did want to catch him out with that - cheers for ruining my fun !! Was my little red herring in amongst it....

rhscott

Could I suggest a far more approachable and totally independent bank called Hoares, which my father has been with for some time now. They are the oldest bank in the country, still owned and run by the same family Hoare and totally independent. Whilst they would not offer wallett busting interest rate deals, you can still talk to a bank manager rather than a representative and are able to arrange loans and credit on a discretional basis.

never-in-doubt

rhscott wrote: »

Could I suggest a far more approachable and totally independent bank called Hoares, which my father has been with for some time now. They are the oldest bank in the country, still owned and run by the same family Hoare and totally independent. Whilst they would not offer wallett busting interest rate deals, you can still talk to a bank manager rather than a representative and are able to arrange loans and credit on a discretional basis.

is that invite only or minimum wealth? Website is very vague but sleek....

Extant

Hoare's is not approachable, they are the most pretentious of the lot and require existing customers to introduce you.

rhscott

I believe minimum wealth, not sure level

never-in-doubt

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Hoare's is not approachable, they are the most pretentious of the lot and require existing customers to introduce you.

do you mean they aren't that good then? from personal opinion of course....

Kavanne

BarclaysManager wrote: »

For current account banking with smaller portfolios and a "bespoke" service, it'd be Duncan Lawrie, for investment banking it'd be Rothschild.

That said, I am not a huge fan of private banks anyway - I think a "switched on" person can achieve better results without them.

Aren't they St James' Place now?

never-in-doubt

Kavanne wrote: »

Aren't they St James' Place now?

Private clients eh? http://www.sjpb.co.uk/

Posh :eek:

Extant

never-in-doubt wrote: »

do you mean they aren't that good then? from personal opinion of course....

I'm sure they're very good at what they do - I've run across several of their clients during my time dealing with BAP customers (those who maintain both business and personal accounts) at Barclays, and nobody had a bad thing to say particularly.

That said though, the private banks are now little more than indulgent brand names - they no longer offer any service that a high street bank cannot provide at a much lower cost, and the only reason to bank with them is if you want a name on your cards. They're throwbacks which are now almost entirely unique to Britain.

I may be biased due to my background, but I've yet to see any value to private banking other than playing in to the British class system.

Extant

Kavanne wrote: »

Aren't they St James' Place now?

No, these guys: http://www.rothschild.com/

St James's Place used to be Rothschild Assurance or something, similar but different.