We had an 18 year banking relationship with Coutts & Co., including their Signia credit card and corporate credit card. We found these products to be expensive, and the level of service to be generally humdrum. The bank overcharged us £13,000 in interest (which they refunded after a few months of double-checking our figures).

The bank paid our credit card bill twice, and it was quite a task to get a refund of the duplicate payment. At one point, I was told that our money was in a "limbo account."

Over the years, we did experience good service from the frock-coated bankers at Coutts & Co. But from about 2001 onwards, we saw a steady decline in the service levels --- at least in our case.

There are complete details of our Coutts experiences at www.couttssucks.com.

Mostly, people do not give Coutts and Co. a second glance, having never heard of Coutts and Co. They would probably be best associated with the Royal Bankers and celebrities. The airmiles program is excellent and this year alone I have had a return trip to Australia, 2 trips to Euro Disney, Paris, hotels and Euro star all paid by points I have spent on my card. On top of that my annual fee is zero because I have spent over 50k. Good card. In London you get the more "wow" factor.