I was living overseas, with my wife, and we were both Natwest customers. I had my pay going into the account. Natwest first demanded from me proof of ID and proof of address, then gave me the run around when I asked why, at first repeating the blather of 'important to have an up to date profile of you', and when I challenged why, they cited legal and regulatory reasons, which they then said they had 'no obligation to disclose'. Made it clear though it was my 'choice' whether I gave them anything, but if I didn't they might consider closing my account. To send anything though, well they failed to provide any address to send anything to when I specifically requested it, said it would come in an email which it didn't, instead I got a useless email asking me to contact them again, and then when I did we went into the death spiral of them again with the same stupid blather as previously. Eventually I hung up, and wrote a complaint, to which Natwest staff said I had refused to speak to them, which is a complete lie. They refused to provide me with anything when i repeatedly asked for it! So I got a certified copy of my passport and ID, sent it to them and they then closed my account for reasons they were 'not obliged to disclose'. For why wife, for whom I had been putting money into her account to pay for cancer treatment where we lived, they just closed her account with 'so sorry' that might convince a lawyer but no one else. I asked them to reconsider due to my wife's circumstances, but they completely ignored all correspondence. She had only been a customer for I think 25 years so obviously not an important one. As she could barely speak, could barely walk, she couldn't do anything they wanted to transfer the balance of funds, so they helpfully sent a Sterling cheque when now she had no bank account anywhere. Fast forward, she passed away, from Stage 4 cancer. I wrote to Natwest, and said she has died, could I have the balance of funds, so they helpfully acknowledged and said her account was closed. Rang them up, said what I had written about but they had no records of any letter, even the reference I cited was unknown. The 'bereavement team' refused to do anything to help, wouldn't write to me, wouldn't give an email address, I had to write to them first. So I did, got a certified copy of the death certificate (I was the notifier on the death certificate and clearly stated as the husband), my ID, and proof of address. Again, a letter weeks later confirming my wife's account had closed, ignoring everything else. At this point, rang again, and spent 30 minutes in a call, mostly on hold, to go through every point all over again! Still waiting for that cheque.... I have complained about all this latest drama, but they haven't acknowledged the complaint, so when I go to complain again I can't even give them a reference because it seems they have ignored it. You also can't complain to the banking ombudsman about the way they behave unless you get them to acknowledge the complaints process is exhausted, so if the ignore you completely they have it sewn up. If Natwest were any other business, they would be in serious trouble. I will certainly never go near them again.