Broken Processes and Biased Treatment
We recently applied for a business account with this bank, and the experience has been appalling from start to finish.
The online application system is fundamentally broken. It overwrites the National Insurance number of the first applicant when entering details for the second, and even if one applicant is removed, their details still appear on the final submission page. When I called support, they casually admitted this is a known problem that “everyone” faces, yet nothing has been fixed.
The following day, we received an automated email demanding the passport of “Mrs Brazil.” That is not my wife’s name. Both of us are British citizens, both born abroad but now holding the same nationality, and both 50/50 owners of the company. Yet for some reason, despite having submitted identical information, only my wife, a Brazilian-born woman, was singled out for further scrutiny.
This raises a very troubling question: why was she treated differently? Is this incompetence, or is there an underlying bias at play? Either way, it is completely unacceptable. I raised this in a reply, but have received no meaningful response.
If this is how the bank welcomes new clients, especially those from diverse backgrounds, it speaks volumes about their priorities. Perhaps customers would be better off placing their trust, and their money, elsewhere.
17 September 2025
Unprompted review