Child & Co RBS Branch to close

[Deleted User]

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

It was mentioned further up the thread, someone had a Drummonds card, only available by request at the branch. It was always assumed on here no such card existed in modern times except we now know it does.

Also some people on 15-80-00 did not even receive Child branded cards. Interesting mess! The plebs (of which I am one) have always been on 15-80-00. We are classed as retail customers of Child branch. Others are private customers and on another sort code. It was stated a few years ago those retail who received the Child card had passed an internal RBS check and those that didn't had failed it and just received RBS standard. Nobody knows what the check is, but it isn't related to income. This was evident from the threads a few years back.

One assumes going forward, the retail customers of Child will be moved over to standard RBS and private customers will remain on the brand. I noted a few months ago some changes had been made to the sort code, the address moved to central RBS. I was told I was wrong, but as I suspected changes were occurring. I can't see them allowing us to stay on it, if they do, pretty cool! it will be an account no other pleb can get

It's a little more complicated than that. 15-80-00 is the original Child & Co sort code.

16-00-80, which is the 'private customer only' sort code was implemented at some point more recently, along with 16-00-11 which is the 'retail customer only' sort code at 1 Fleet Street.

There are private customers and retail customers on 15-80-00.

The check was not on whether or not a Child & Co card would be issued, it previously related to whether or not the customer would be allocated an 'online only' debit card (which would have been a Solo card historically). AIUI there simply was no Child & Co branded Solo or online-only Visa Debit card, so if you were such a customer you received an RBS branded one (but your chequebook and statement would still be Child & Co branded).

Since nowadays all customers receive an 'online only' debit card, I don't know if there is a differentiation - it's a long time since I've seen reports of 15-80-00 customers receiving RBS branded debit cards.

The Child and Co branded cards have offline capabilities. Not sure where you're getting the idea that all cards are online.

WillPS

Deleted_User said:

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

It was mentioned further up the thread, someone had a Drummonds card, only available by request at the branch. It was always assumed on here no such card existed in modern times except we now know it does.

Also some people on 15-80-00 did not even receive Child branded cards. Interesting mess! The plebs (of which I am one) have always been on 15-80-00. We are classed as retail customers of Child branch. Others are private customers and on another sort code. It was stated a few years ago those retail who received the Child card had passed an internal RBS check and those that didn't had failed it and just received RBS standard. Nobody knows what the check is, but it isn't related to income. This was evident from the threads a few years back.

One assumes going forward, the retail customers of Child will be moved over to standard RBS and private customers will remain on the brand. I noted a few months ago some changes had been made to the sort code, the address moved to central RBS. I was told I was wrong, but as I suspected changes were occurring. I can't see them allowing us to stay on it, if they do, pretty cool! it will be an account no other pleb can get

It's a little more complicated than that. 15-80-00 is the original Child & Co sort code.

16-00-80, which is the 'private customer only' sort code was implemented at some point more recently, along with 16-00-11 which is the 'retail customer only' sort code at 1 Fleet Street.

There are private customers and retail customers on 15-80-00.

The check was not on whether or not a Child & Co card would be issued, it previously related to whether or not the customer would be allocated an 'online only' debit card (which would have been a Solo card historically). AIUI there simply was no Child & Co branded Solo or online-only Visa Debit card, so if you were such a customer you received an RBS branded one (but your chequebook and statement would still be Child & Co branded).

Since nowadays all customers receive an 'online only' debit card, I don't know if there is a differentiation - it's a long time since I've seen reports of 15-80-00 customers receiving RBS branded debit cards.

The Child and Co branded cards have offline capabilities. Not sure where you're getting the idea that all cards are online.

It's been a very long time since I've seen any suggestion that it was a thing, but I accept that could just be down to the fact offline use cases have pretty much disappeared since the railways finally moved to being processing online. 

Perhaps it's just the lack of a visible difference which is throwing me (except for Foundation and Adapt/Evolve accounts - perhaps these are the only online-only cards now and all other accounts get the offline enabled one?). In years gone by RBS/Natwest would issue a completely different card design depending if your card was online only or offline enabled.

planteria

anyone any update re this?
not sure if we will still have Child & Co branded cards, statements and chequebooks.

WillPS

planteria said:

anyone any update re this?
not sure if we will still have Child & Co branded cards, statements and chequebooks.

The only word from RBS is that all that branded cards and chequebooks will remain, everything else is speculation.

As of this week Child and Co branded Visa Debit cards are still being issued. What happens when Natwest pull the plug on Visa Debit altogether will be somewhat telling.

planteria

thank you WillPS.. it's a shame the branch is closing. and yes, that will be telling as they'll have to produce a new Child & Co-branded card type, which you would assume they won't do if they were to be phasing out the brand.

Saver101101

Hi, Quick Question how do you open the account online and choose the Childs branch ?, I have a RBS account and when I go to open another account it just allocates the new account to the same branch sort code ?.

[Deleted User]

Saver101101 said:

Hi, Quick Question how do you open the account online and choose the Childs branch ?, I have a RBS account and when I go to open another account it just allocates the new account to the same branch sort code ?.

@Saver101101
 You need to use the old link:

https://www.cao.rbos.com/cao/external/rbs/launchChannelHandler.do?PF=CAC&PI=ZJ&BRD=RBS&CID=INT&CS=N&devicemode=null&subbrand=responsive_rbs_personal&CCF=Y

Be quick!

[Deleted User]

I just noticed this was covered by the Daily Mail no less!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10556093/JEFF-PRESTRIDGE-bemoans-ruthless-greedy-bosses-treat-bank-branches-archaic-luxuries.html

Clearly the Mail was not aware of retail customers but it appears the private customers have been told no branch as well.

On hearing of the Child & Co closure this weekend, Derek French, a former NatWest executive who has campaigned tirelessly to keep more branches open, said: ‘It’s extremely sad to see it go. It’s part of banking history. It’s a very special branch.’

Spot on. But guess what? NatWest couldn’t care less about that. Just look at the way the news has been conveyed to the bank’s 6,000 existing customers (who are required to have a sole income of at least £100,000, a £500,000 mortgage with NatWest or £100,000 of savings).

One, who described the move as ham-fisted, said NatWest had sent a ‘template letter for any old branch closure’ while ‘paying no regard to the fact that it is the oldest bank in the UK’.

The letter, shown to me by The Mail on Sunday’s intrepid banking correspondent Emma Dunkley, asked customers to use NatWest or Royal Bank of Scotland branches nearby after June 29. ‘Millions of our customers now manage their money online,’ the letter states. ‘With fewer people going into the branch, we’ve had to make some really tough choices. Which is unfortunately why we’ll be closing our London Child & Co branch.’

Yet NatWest does not deny that counter transactions for personal customers at the branch were actually increasing before the pandemic. Last night, a spokesman said the closure of the branch ‘does not mean we are discontinuing the Child & Co brand’.

That will do little to quell the disappointment among account-holders, who will have taken pride in being part of a rich history.

The bank actually dates from 1649, when goldsmith Robert Blanchard began trading on The Strand, using a marigold motif to identify his business. The mark can still be seen in the bank’s windows today.

Blanchard was joined by fellow goldsmith Sir Francis Child in about 1665 and the new firm, Blanchard & Child, moved to Fleet Street in 1673.

Designed by the eminent architect John Gibson, the building is now Grade II listed and retains the cases of muskets amassed in 1780 during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots on London’s streets.

The third-oldest bank in the world, Child & Co – the name adopted after Blanchard’s death in 1682 – claims it was the first to introduce the pre-printed cheque. Before then, customers had to use handwritten letters.

Famous patrons reputedly included William III and Mary, 18th Century politician the Marquess of Tavistock and Charles II’s mistress Nell Gwyn.

Of course, it is hard to feel sympathetic for today’s high net worth customers as they jet around the world. I can’t imagine many will struggle to bank online.
But this isn’t really about them. It’s about the kind of country we want to live in. It’s about the slow, relentless crumbling of the community life we all cherished. It’s about our past – and our present.

Because if the magnificent Child & Co can be unceremoniously axed, it can happen anywhere, at any time. And mark my words, hundreds more bank branches up and down the country are being pencilled in for closure at this very moment. We will all be poorer for it. Shame on the banks, I say.

I do think this is a big mistake. Natwest really could have boosted the brand and taken more customers, the location, heritage and banking power are being thrown down the drain. Please reconsider NatWest! 

gsmh

A good article arguing that the closure of the Child & Co branch is more than just a branch closure. It's another part of our shared history being cancelled.

eskbanker

The Daily Mail said:
But this isn’t really about them. It’s about the kind of country we want to live in. It’s about the slow, relentless crumbling of the community life we all cherished. It’s about our past – and our present.

Daily Mail in pompous and reactionary article shocker! 🙄