I am skeptical - I once was told by someone leading a large bank’s PWM division their medium upfront onboarding cost is 5 digits.
Core banking makes very little money so I don’t think Cater Allen have nearly the same budget. Even small wealth manager (who actually makes AUM based fees) struggles.
Thanks for letting us know.
I have just completed the application.
Looking forward to seeing what happens now.
Awfully tempted to put an application in but I’ve had a number of hard checks recently…
And just to double check, income isn’t going to be something that crops up through the application process?
What’s the whole point of Cater Allen if it’s no longer a private bank for the stinking rich? If they’ve removed all eligibility criteria, Santander might as well close it down and move all the customers to standard Santander accounts.
Just confirmed my account has been opened!
I suspect the loosening of requirements might be a last-ditch effort to get to an efficient scale & convince the parent company to keep the subsidiary (or at least the brand) around. Cater Allen has always been in the mass affluent segment and was never a place “stinking rich” kept their money, so they haven’t lowered the standard by much.
Also, it might be a way for Santander to get more UK PB customers as they have been trying for years.
If their LatAm operations sets an example, Santander PB UK will probably be great at hand-holding but will otherwise have subpar products and pricing (alright for the mass affluent but won’t cut it even for more the sophisticated amongst 1-2mm range).
Btw - also decided to open a USD account given the low commitment - will find out which end of the AML scale they are at soon.
I completed the application earlier this afternoon.
There was a section with a question about monthly net income and the main source of that income but that is no different from other applications I have made with other Banks & Building Societies over the last few years. There was certainly no reference to any minimum requirement.
I was tempted to apply due to the USD account and free conversion to GBP. I’m not 100% certain what rate they use but assume it’s this: Foreign payments and currencies | Cater Allen
Not bad but not entirely competitive either.
I’ve got my welcome pack arriving Next Week!
I’m gonna use the card for a while and see what the bank is like.
That’s good news. Out of curiosity, has anyone posted a picture of the physical card yet?
I use Curve anyway for 2 of my Credit Cards so I’m happy with that.
But using the physical card as well obviously!
The No App thing is a slight issue for me. But I’m just gonna make a bookmark with Firefox and save my login!
Out of interest what’s the salary/income bracket vaguely you used? I still think they’ll have an income criteria internal just not publicised.
So if you earn £50k+ that could be an indicator say.
Note to self/ need to stop collecting cards
Hello @WhyAydan, how did you hear that your account had been opened?
It’s been 8 working days since I applied for an account. On the 5th working day I received an email from Cater Allen asking me to clarify how often I would be making deposits to the account, however I haven’t heard anything since.
Yeah, I had to ring on the advice from @WhyAydan.
To find out that I got accepted!
Thank you @WhyAydan and @mastercardnevervisa, I just telephoned Cater Allen and 20 seconds later was talking to someone. They informed me that my account had been opened on Friday. The welcome pack is on its way and should arrive by the end of the week.
Awesome!
Enjoy!
Yes, I had definitely provided the information on the application form. Not sure why I had to confirm it again.
I know you keep saying this, but I’ve had absolutely nothing but a modern experience with them. Never had to go into a branch, never had anything go wrong, everything has always worked how it was meant to, only called them once and it was answered quickly and the staff were good.
I have a Santander Student Account for the free Railcard and I use it sometimes!