Coutts & Co.

I first heard about Coutts & Co. while I was a banker in the States. I just couldn't imagine a bank where the male employees --- from doormen to directors --- wore frock coats and were clean shaven. Where the payee of each check was carefully printed on customers' monthly statement. Where leather cheque book covers holding oversized white cheques were the norm. Stamped with the Bank's logo in gold.

When I heard about Coutts & Co. I ...
...correspond with the gentlemen at Coutts in London. I wrote to Coutts from our home on Maui, and they responded promptly with all the necessary paperwork. Marjorie and I filled the forms out, signed and returned them, and suddenly we were customers of the Queen's own bank.

Sheet 1 of our Coutts bank statements reflects that our account was opened on May 21 1986, less than a month after we were married.

We moved to England ... more

I first heard about Coutts & Co. while I was a banker in the States. I just couldn't imagine a bank where the male employees --- from doormen to directors --- wore frock coats and were clean shaven. Where the payee of each check was carefully printed on customers' monthly statement. Where leather cheque book covers holding oversized white cheques were the norm. Stamped with the Bank's logo in gold.

When I heard about Coutts & Co. I wanted to be their customer.

But what was the point in having an account in Sterling in London when you live in Hawaii? So my desire to have white cheques imprinted with my name would need to wait.

It was my good fortune in April 1986 to marry Marjorie. Beautiful, charming, English, and a Lloyds Bank customer. My chance had come to correspond with the gentlemen at Coutts in London. I wrote to Coutts from our home on Maui, and they responded promptly with all the necessary paperwork. Marjorie and I filled the forms out, signed and returned them, and suddenly we were customers of the Queen's own bank.

Sheet 1 of our Coutts bank statements reflects that our account was opened on May 21 1986, less than a month after we were married.

We moved to England in June of that year, and started a financial services business (with money borrowed from a high-interest finance company, but that's another story) in October. By 1992 we'd sold a minority interest in our company to a NYSE-listed corporation, and in 1996 we sold the rest. At that time, our company employeed 515 people in five countries. The wire transfers from the purchaser --- millions of pounds ---went to our friends at Coutts.

Over the years we deposited many millions with Coutts. And, at other times, they lent us substantial sums. They invested our company's pension fund. They invested our own funds. We used their credit cards. Our farm banked with them. We'd flown our account manager to Hawaii to see our business there.

Along the way Coutts overcharged us £16,752 in interest. They also undercharged us interest, and failed to charge an agreed (or semi-agreed) fee. The net overcharge by Coutts was £13,981.

The mistakes on our account were not limited to a single quarter or two, but spanned years. We called these problems, gently, to the attention of our personal banker on September 19, 2003. The folks at Coutts were very professional in handling our claim: they wrote, "Don't be at all meek in letting me know your concerns - if we are somehow miscalculating your interest payments or acting outside the signed Advices of Borrowing Terms then I will want to correct the position."

On February 4, 2004 they agreed fully with our figures, and refunded the £13,981. I have no way of knowing if Coutts made similar errors when calculating interest owed to it by other clients. But the mistakes made by Coutts in the calculations on our accounts covered many quarters, and I don't believe there was anything unique about our overdraft facility.

On April 2 2004 (two months after Coutts reimbursed us for the interest overcharge) we sold a residential property, and the funds were (of course) sent to Coutts. This paid off all of our debt to the Bank, and left our own house and 57 acres of farm free of encumbrances. We'd never missed a payment to Coutts, and dealt with our account manager and his colleagues on a regular basis, usually by e-mail.

Our account manager telephoned me on April 28 to say that the Bank wanted to close all of our accounts. Stephen explained that we were entitled to 30 days' notice, but the bank would give us until June 1 to move our personal and business banking relationships elsewhere. An overall relationship of almost 18 years.

And then the bank made a complete mess out of closing our accounts, with funds at one point sitting in what the bank called a "limbo account."

I have documented our experiences with Coutts on our website, www.couttssucks.com. I have included copies of relevant e-mail messages and correspondence. The Bank has tried to remove the site from the internet, with limited success. If you're interested in reading about our experiences with the Queen's bank, please visit our website.

 

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