Mettle - Business bank account for sole-traders

Monoboy

Hello.

I switched from a Santander Bussiness Bank Account to one called Mettle to take advantage of an offer and their app. It's advertised as a NatWest business account product.

I received an email from them on the 25th of July that revealed the following...

1. It isn't a business bank account, merely an e-money account (like a credit card)
2. It isn't an official NatWest product but offered by a company called Prepay Technologies Limited (PPS)
3. It isn't protected by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
4. In the event of it going bust, I'd be liable to fees to recover my money
5. They're refusing to give me any indication of what that fee might be, or how long it would take

I think I've been misled. NatWest has simply bought a white-labelled digital app and resold it.

How is this legal?

northwalesd

It's quite easy to see a lot of that information just by looking at the FAQs on their website.

I'm sure it's not illegal. If you don't want to use them, find another business account that you do.

adamp87

Most likely it’s all in the t&c’s you signed up for. I’d just move on

Zanderman

Agree it should be fairly obvious Mettle isn't a 'proper' bank account . 
Natwest make that clear on their website if you take the trouble of following the links like 'what is Mettle?'
And it is part of the NatWest group so I'm not sure you need worry about whose it is:  https://www.business.natwest.com/business/bank-accounts/mettle-mobile-account.html

Did you actually 'switch' in the sense of using the switching service? As I'd be surprised if that service worked for this.  Or did you simply open a mettle account and close your Santander one yourself.

The only offer I can see for Mettle is for accounting software FreeAgent?

Agree with other posters you haven't been misled, you just didn't read up.

Monoboy

Their onboarding process is entirely app-based and doesn't offer any detail on the specific platform or parties involved. You get asked a few questions on a chat and that's it, you get an account.

I glossed over the T&Cs like so many do. I complained, and they responded with ‘see section 3 of our terms and conditions’ for details. Terms that they updated just before they sent out the email (last week).

My issue is that this is sold as a business account from NatWest. It is neither of those things. I doubt many people would know this. It doesn't sit well for me.

Monoboy

EDIT: I closed my Santander account and switched to Mettle myself.

Lightning360

Monoboy said:

Their onboarding process is entirely app-based and doesn't offer any detail on the specific platform or parties involved. You get asked a few questions on a chat and that's it, you get an account.

I glossed over the T&Cs like so many do. I complained, and they responded with ‘see section 3 of our terms and conditions’ for details. Terms that they updated just before they sent out the email (last week).

My issue is that this is sold as a business account from NatWest. It is neither of those things. I doubt many people would know this. It doesn't sit well for me.

It is part of NatWest group so I don't see why you are concerned about that.