Natwest Bank Closed

Shakin_Steve

I agree...it makes no difference. But fincos need to remove this part of the process when asking you for your bank details, quite a few forms ask for the physical address of your branch.

Vortigern

I've just renewed my car tax(VED) by DD
I entered a Bank of Scotland sort code for my "branch."
I know this branch is now closed.
The DD was automatically completed with the follwing nonsensical address.
Bank of Scotland plc, PO Box 17235, Edinburgh, Glasgow, EH11 1YH

As far as I'm aware Edinburgh is not in Glasgow.

It just goes to show that the branch address is unimportant.

Nick_C

Look up the address here...
https://www.paymentsuk.org.uk/consumers/sort-code-checker

TheBanker

jinkster wrote: »

I spoke with Natwest and its been moved to Barnsley (about 1 hr 30 min drive from where we live now). I've asked about moving the account to Bakewell (5 mins drive) but they will not do this for me.

The reason (probably) is that your old sort code has been assigned to Barnsley, so to move your account to Bakewell would mean giving you a new sort code and account number. This creates a whole load of additional, unnecessary work re-directing regular credits and debits.

Years ago, it was important because each branch dealt with the admin on their own accounts. Now, it's all centralised so it doesn't matter which branch your account is nominally held at. Even 10 years ago when I worked at Barclays, any post received at the branch was forwarded, unopened, to a processing centre to be dealt with. Then they put a Royal Mail redirection in place so we didn't get any post to the branch at all. Which meant if a kind customer sent us a Christmas card, it ended up at a processing centre in Leicester!

If you look at newer banks like Santander and Metro, their sort codes aren't tied to specific branches. You could open a Santander account in Aberdeen and be given the same sort code as a customer in Exeter.

My Natwest branch closed a few years ago. Now the branch I was moved to has closed and I've moved again. All of those branches are in South Yorkshire, I live in Hertfordshire. I had set foot in the original branch only once, and have never been to either of the two replacement branches.