Royal Bank of Scotland

Royal Bank of Scotland, usually called RBS, is a Scottish high street bank that sells the full range of personal banking products: current accounts, savings, ISAs, mortgages, credit cards, loans, insurance, pensions and investing. Its head office brand serves customers mainly in Scotland, and it also trades under the names Holts, Drummonds and Child & Co¹. Customers in England and Wales are generally directed to NatWest branches.

Royal Bank of Scotland is a UK bank that accepts deposits, lends mortgages and issues credit cards and electronic money². Money you hold in eligible deposits with it is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to a total of £120,000³.

What Royal Bank of Scotland offers

Royal Bank of Scotland's core product is the current account, and everything else it sells is built around it. Its range includes standard and packaged current accounts, savings accounts and ISAs, mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, insurance, and pension and investment products. Packaged accounts bundle extras with the account: the bank says their benefits include travel insurance, booking discounts and airport lounge access, so they can suit frequent travellers, though the extras are paid for through a monthly account fee⁶.

For students there is a dedicated Royal Bank of Scotland Student Account, and for retirement saving there is the Royal Bank Invest Personal Pension. The bank also runs Holt's Military Banking, which gives service personnel and their families access to selected Royal Bank of Scotland products and services³. On the investing side, its pension and investment products sit alongside the general guides on investing and pensions; on the protection side, it sells insurance, and the guides on insurance and protection insurance explain how those products work.

In branches you can deposit cash, make payments and transfers, use Royal Bank cash machines, cash deposit machines and coin-in machines, and chat to a digital expert⁵. Mortgages are sold under the NatWest Group umbrella: the group, including RBS and Ulster Bank, has signed the Mortgage Charter, the industry commitment on how lenders treat borrowers who are struggling⁷. If you are borrowing to buy, the home buying guide covers the whole process, and your credit score will affect what you are offered.

How charges work for everyday services and payments

Royal Bank of Scotland publishes its charges in a rates-and-charges document, which also carries important basic information about the bank and how to complain⁸. The bank's terms state that all charges are payable from the time the service is provided and are subject to review, so the figures in its current document are the ones that apply today and can change⁸. For today's full list, check the bank's own site.

A few service charges illustrate how the structure works. A banker's reference costs £10 for each request⁸. On international payments, there is no fee for sending a payment online, though the receiving bank may charge for processing it; if you want the bank to cover any foreign bank handling fees up front, it charges £10 for that option⁹. Incoming payments are charged by size: for payments received over £100 the fee is £7, and for non-euro payments received that are under £100 the fee is £1⁹. The money transfers guide explains the different ways to send money and what each tends to cost.

Everyday banking on a standard current account is built around debit card payments, direct debits and standing orders, and the bank's ways-to-pay guidance confirms its debit cards work with digital wallets too: Apple Pay and Google Pay are available on selected devices, secured with biometric login such as fingerprint or face ID, and your card details are protected like Chip and PIN and are not shared with the reader¹⁰.

Who can open an account, save or invest

Anyone over the bank's age threshold can apply for a current account, and the bank will run standard identity and credit checks. Joint accounts are more flexible than many people assume: you can open one with a partner, family member, housemate or friend¹¹. A joint account can be closed in branch, over the phone, by post or using the webchat function in the mobile banking app, and only one account holder's instruction is needed to close it, which is worth knowing before you open one¹¹.

If you have a poor credit history or cannot get a standard account, the largest banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland, have to offer fee-free basic bank accounts¹². A basic bank account lets you receive money, pay bills and use a debit card without an overdraft and without monthly fees. Free guidance on these accounts, including how they work for people in debt or going through bankruptcy, is available from National Debtline and Business Debtline¹². The rules on credit checks and what lenders see are covered in the credit scores guide.

For saving and investing, eligibility depends on the product. ISAs are limited by the annual ISA allowance, which the ISAs guide explains, and pensions are limited by pension tax rules and your age, covered in the pensions guide. The bank will confirm the conditions for each product when you apply.

Banking with Royal Bank of Scotland: app, online, branches and the Post Office

Most day-to-day banking happens in the app, which is called RBS Mobile Banking in the app stores¹⁴. Through the app and online banking you can check balances, make payments, freeze a card, report problems and chat to the bank. The app also lets you freeze a lost card for as long as you need to look for it, and report it lost or damaged and order a new one¹⁵.

Branches remain part of the picture in Scotland, but the network has shrunk. NatWest Group, which comprises NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, has closed 1,565 branches since 2015, of which Royal Bank of Scotland has shut 183 in Scotland¹⁶. The group took the decision to close hundreds of Royal Bank of Scotland branches in England and Wales because it now allows customers of that brand to bank in a local NatWest branch instead¹⁶. Access to cash across the UK has been kept under review by the regulator in recent years.

Where there is no branch, the Post Office fills much of the gap: as a Royal Bank customer, you can pay in or withdraw cash at Post Office branches and use other services there too⁵. The bank also offers support for customers who find services hard to use: if you have a disability, are elderly or find it difficult to use its services, its team can make reasonable adjustments, and you can raise this in branch, by phone or by chat⁵.

Using a Royal Bank of Scotland card abroad

You do not need to tell Royal Bank of Scotland before you travel. The bank states that its fraud systems are protecting you everywhere all the time, so you do not need to tell it each time you go abroad¹⁵. Where accepted, your card, mobile or wearable device can make payments safely overseas¹⁰.

What a trip costs you in charges depends on the card and the account, and the bank sets this out in its travel pages rather than in a single figure: its overseas guidance notes that offers such as fee-free spending abroad are not valid for ATM withdrawals and that other local fees may apply⁶. Before you go, check the current overseas charges for your specific card in the app or on the bank's site, and read the money abroad guide for how cards, cash and exchange rates work overseas. The bank also sells travel money through its travel money service¹⁵.

If something goes wrong while you are away, the same protections apply as at home: you can dispute a card payment from abroad, and the bank's fraud lines take calls from outside the UK. If you gave away any personal security details or card details, tell the bank, whoever you are travelling with¹⁷.

Switching to Royal Bank of Scotland or moving a mortgage

Royal Bank of Scotland accepts current account switches from other providers, and the bank's guidance covers how switching works alongside arrangements such as standing orders on your old account¹⁸. The bank runs switching offers on some accounts from time to time; the terms are on its site and change often, so check them before you rely on any incentive.

Moving a mortgage to Royal Bank of Scotland means either porting an existing mortgage when you move house or remortgaging from another lender, and both are explained in the mortgages guide. As part of NatWest Group, the bank is a signatory to the Mortgage Charter, the commitment lenders have made on supporting borrowers in difficulty, including options such as extending the term or temporarily switching to interest-only⁷. If you are buying in Scotland, the process differs from England and Wales: you pay Land and Buildings Transaction Tax rather than stamp duty, and the nations guide sets out the differences.

Scams, fraud and disputed card payments

If you spot a payment you do not recognise, or a merchant has taken money it should not have, start with the company that took the payment, and if it cannot help, the bank can step in. For a debit card payment, you raise the dispute in the app or online banking: select the transaction you want to dispute, then click on "Report a dispute, fraud or scam"¹⁴. The same route works for Travel account transactions¹⁴. For a credit card, there is a separate route: select "Get started" on the credit card dispute page¹⁴. If something goes wrong with a merchant and you used your debit card, the bank may be able to get your money back through chargeback¹⁵.

To report fraud directly to the bank, call 03457 242424, a line open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; if you are outside the UK, call 0044 131 549 8888²⁰. For a personal credit card, the fraud number is 0370 907 0010²¹. If you are unable to contact the bank, you can temporarily freeze your card in the mobile app or Digital Banking in the cards section²¹. Fake bank text alerts are on the rise, including texts supposedly from Royal Bank of Scotland about a payment on hold¹⁷, so forward any suspicious texts referring to RBS to 88355, the number the bank gives for this, with standard network rates applying¹⁷.

Beyond the bank, fraud is a crime and should be reported. If you live in Scotland or the fraud happened there, contact Police Scotland on 101²²; elsewhere in the UK, Report Fraud takes reports at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040²⁴. If you have fallen victim to a text scam, you can report it to Report Fraud, or to the police if you live in Scotland²⁵. If you have had money stolen, contact your bank immediately using the number on the back of your card²⁶. The scams and fraud guide covers the warning signs in depth.

Complaints and help when things go wrong

Royal Bank of Scotland's rates-and-charges document carries important basic information about the bank and how to complain⁸. Complain first to the bank, in branch, by phone, in the app or in writing. If you are unhappy with its final response, or eight weeks have passed without one, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free and independent. The ombudsman publishes data on how often it upholds complaints against each firm: for Royal Bank of Scotland, the percentage of cases resolved in the consumer's favour has varied widely over the years, from 55 per cent to 99 per cent across reporting periods between 2009 and 2012²⁷. Those figures are old, but they show that outcomes depend on the individual case, not the brand.

If your problem is debt rather than a banking dispute, free help exists. National Debtline and Business Debtline publish guidance on safe bank accounts and how debts interact with your banking, including the risk that a bank in the same group as a bank you owe money to can take money from your accounts to cover the debt¹². The debt guide sets out the options, and the consumer protection guide explains your rights across financial services.

When an account holder dies

Tell Royal Bank of Scotland through its online bereavement form first²⁸. The form asks for your full name, address and contact telephone number; the full name and address of the deceased customer; the sort code and account number of the deceased, with only one account number needed even if there were multiple accounts; and the death certificate number if it is known²⁸. To deal with the accounts you need to be a next of kin, an executor of the deceased's will, or a personal representative of the deceased, although anyone can inform the bank of a death²⁹.

Once the bank is told, statements and most letters stop, though some communications are made up to six weeks in advance and cannot be stopped, and bereavement communications are sent to the personal representative²⁹. Joint accounts are transferred to the remaining account holder and stay open, with the cheque book reissued and standing orders and Direct Debits continuing²⁹. If there is money in the deceased person's account, the bank can pay funeral director bills directly, and bills such as Inheritance Tax, from those funds²⁹.

If the person held accounts with other providers as well as Royal Bank of Scotland, the Death Notification Service lets you tell them all at once²⁸. It is free, no account is needed to use it, and it has a helpline on 0333 207 6574, open 08:30 to 17:30 Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays³⁰. In Scotland, a Funeral Support Payment may be claimable from Social Security Scotland, and the application includes giving Social Security Scotland consent to contact the funeral director³¹. HMRC also needs to know who is dealing with the person's money, property and possessions: if its helpline cannot be called, form P1000 is used³². The life events guide covers the wider money tasks after a death.

Equity release and crypto

Royal Bank of Scotland does not offer equity release or crypto. The activities it is permitted to carry on cover accepting deposits, entering into regulated mortgage contracts as lender, entering into regulated credit agreements as lender, issuing electronic money and consumer hire agreements, and none of these extend to equity release or crypto activities². Equity release is a separate market: it is, as the Equity Release Council describes it, one of the most regulated financial products in the UK, sold by specialist providers, and the key question it raises is whether you risk losing your house, which its trade body addresses directly³³.

That gap is worth knowing for a different reason: scammers impersonate banks to sell fake products. Anyone offering you equity release or crypto "through" Royal Bank of Scotland is not dealing with the bank, and the same rules apply as for any other suspected scam: stop, report it to the bank, and report it to the police. The scams and fraud guide lists the common scripts.

How your money is protected with Royal Bank of Scotland

Money in eligible deposits held by a UK establishment of Royal Bank of Scotland is protected up to a total of £120,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme³. The FSCS pays out if a bank fails, and the limit applies per person, per authorised firm. The bank's documents also refer to £85,000 as the total protection for eligible investments, a different category of protection from deposits, and the two figures sit alongside each other: £120,000 for eligible deposits, £85,000 for eligible investments³. If you hold deposits with more than one brand of the same firm, they count together towards one limit. Royal Bank of Scotland's trading names Holts, Drummonds and Child & Co sit under the same firm, so money in those brands counts with your RBS deposits towards the £120,000².

Sharing a parent cuts the other way too. Banks within the same group as a bank you owe money to may still take your money: Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest are part of the same group, so if you owe money to one, the group's other banks may be able to use funds in your accounts there¹³. This is a standard banking rule called set-off, and it is one reason some people in debt keep their account with a different group¹².

Day to day, protection also comes from the bank's own systems: its fraud lines are open around the clock²⁰, its app lets you freeze a card instantly¹⁵, and disputed card payments can be raised in the app¹⁴. If the bank gets something wrong, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the free, independent route to a binding decision²⁷. The banks directory lists other banks and building societies, and the consumer protection guide explains the wider safety net.