Child & Co branch code now under RBS HQ

[Deleted User]

Some may recall there is a branch of RBS which had a special set up, meaning anyone who opened an account at this said branch is a customer of Child & Co bankers, private bank and received branded Child & Co card and cheque book instead of the normal RBS ones. A few years ago there was a lenthgy thread on the bank. Last year there were reports on here that the sort code selector on the RBS application site was being withdrawn meaning it was only possible to open an account at Child by going around the houses either visiting branch or filling in a transfer form from RBS. I am not sure if it has finally been withdrawn.

Sadly the sort code which used to be assigned to Child & Co retail customers has now been transferred to RBS HQ. The change happened in April 2021. The end of a quirky and interesting fluke which we happened to find. It was good while it lasted! It remains to be seen what happens when existing customers receive a new card etc, will they get an RBS card or continue to receive the Child one. Actual private customers have their own sort code. Time will tell but I suspect as it is now an RBS code the card will be an RBS one. They are changing to MasterCard from December. If anyone has managed to open an account at the branch under the Child brand since May 2021 would be interested to know.

gsmh

I opened my RBS account using the Child & Co sort code on May 18th 2021 and I was sent a Child & Co branded debit card and somewhat later a Child & Co cheque book. I also just entered my sort code into  a couple of online sort-code checkers and the result was Child & Co.

[Deleted User]

gsmh said:

I opened my RBS account using the Child & Co sort code on May 18th 2021 and I was sent a Child & Co branded debit card and somewhat later a Child & Co cheque book. I also just entered my sort code into  a couple of online sort-code checkers and the result was Child & Co.

So it looks like they are still sending out the cards.

It was the address which changed on the sort code.

SebH

The Child & Co sort code has always been nominally at Fleet Street, but with an official branch address in Chatham (a generic RBS customer servicing centre).

If you check the sort code account details at Starling’s website, you will see what I mean.

I don’t believe anything has changed in terms of account servicing, unless you know something we don’t.

https://www.starlingbank.com/resources/banking/bank-accounts-explained-sort-code-account-number/

IanManc

Child & Co statements and cheque books have come from their service centre in Chatham for years, and when you call you speak to someone at the RBS service centre they will refer to your account as "your RBS select account" etc, and if you say it's a Child account they agree that it is "held at the Childs branch" with a sort of polite but weary resignation which indicates that both they and you know it is really just and RBS account with fancy branding.

If you're a private banking customer of Child & Co you get to speak to different people in the branch in Fleet Street, not in the call centre - the rest of us aren't private banking customers and while we get a branded cards and cheque book we don't get the private banking service, but nor do we pay for it either.

15-80-00 shows as an RBS sort code on all sort code checkers, as it has done for many years - at least the ten that I've had an account. That's not surprising as Child & Co is an RBS brand.

sortcodecheker.co.uk says the code is an RBS one, for "Childs Branch", and gives the postal address as the service centre in Chatham. That's not new, and is in line with what RBS do, and what other banks do too. For example, my Barclays account has been held at 4 different branches in Greater Manchester as Barclays closed them, but it has always had the same sort code, and while the branch name has changed on sort code checkers where the location or address is shown it has always stayed the same: "Barclays, Leicester". which is where their service centre is located.

bacs.co.uk says the code is an RBS one, for "Childs Branch" and doesn't give an address.

rtn.one.uk says it is an RBS code, says the "city" is Chatham, and gives the service centre address.

chequeandcredit.co.uk says it is an RBS code and says the branch is "Childs Branch".

None of the above have changed since I last looked at them a couple of years ago.

I got a new Child & Co branded debit card on my existing account in May and a new Child & Co branded cheque book in September.

gsmh

Yes, we all know we don't really have a Child & Co account, but it's nice to have the branded debit card and cheque book. You also get the Child & Co branding in Apple Pay. My tiny mind is very happy with that!

[Deleted User]

I am sure the address was the actual branch address before. It states there was a change in April 2021.

Come on you got to admit the card looks good.

SebH

[Deleted User] said:

I am sure the address was the actual branch address before.

It never was, not even for private customers at the private banking sort code.

IanManc

Deleted_User said:

I am sure the address was the actual branch address before. It states there was a change in April 2021.

Come on you got to admit the card looks good.

The address has been at Chatham Maritime since the building was constructed and RBS moved into it in the early 2000s. The return address on statements has been Chatham for the best part of two decades.

The cards do look good. I preferred the gold debit cards we used to get before they went blue. At least I used to prefer the gold ones until a very young relative was very unimpressed with mine and pointed out that it looked exactly the same as the gold Toys-R-Us discount card his dad had. He was right too - it did.

I really like the cheques. They look classy. Unfortunately I hardly ever get to write one nowadays.

[Deleted User]

SebH said:

[Deleted User] said:

I am sure the address was the actual branch address before.

It never was, not even for private customers at the private banking sort code.

I must be seeing things 

SebH

Where did you see this reference to a change in May 2021?

I haven’t seen any change to that effect and I believe that the Starling sort code database, especially, would be up to date since they are a bank themselves (so would presumably always have a current copy of the sort code database).