Natwest rated one of Britain’s worst lenders

NATWeST’S customers have rated it as one of the worst banks, calling out its poor branches and shoddy overdraft services.

The taxpayer-backed lender, which was until recently known as RBS, operates in the UK under both the Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland brands. But personal banking customers have ranked both among the poorest for service.

Consumer group Which? said the bank rankings, published every six months by the Competition and Markets Authority, should serve as a ‘wake-up call’ for traditional banks.

Their newer digital-only rivals, including Monzo and Starling Bank, were included for the first time and swooped straight to the top of the table on overall service quality.

Royal Bank of Scotland’s personal banking customers ranked it 18th out of the 19 lenders surveyed, with only Tesco Bank faring worse. Natwest ranked in 12th place.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at Which?, said: ‘Some challenger banks are doing an impressive job at keeping their customers happy, and their scores should serve as a wake-up call to the big household names.’

Just 50pc of RBS customers were likely to recommend the lender’s branch services – the worst of all 15 UK banks with branches. Natwest fared little better, ranked 12th out of the 15. Customers were also unimpressed with their overdraft services, as Natwest were 15th of 18 banks which offered overdrafts and RBS came 17th.

A Natwest spokesman said: ‘We’re focused on doing more and doing better in order to provide the best possible service to customers, businesses and communities.

‘We’ve been listening to customer feedback and are investing in a number of improvements we’ve made to address the areas where our service falls short of expectations.’