Aha! That might be why some seem to get the Drummonds card and others just the beach hut – maybe they apply stricter criteria based on income on who gets it.
You 100% will not get the Drummonds card without a conversation with somebody at Drummonds or RBS at least. You will get a branded chequebook however.
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There was someone on Monzo forums who got the Drummonds card by applying using the old form; without a conversation with someone at RBS, so it’s 100% possible
There is some background decisioning but the cruteria are clearly strict and very opaque
Doubt it personally.
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No, it’s definitely the case – it’s just difficult to get.
People can just say stuff tho.
The only confirmed knowledge we have of the card even existing is somebody who was already a wealth/premier client with RBS group and they only got it after a conversation with staff in branch.
If this was an acceptance criteria thing there would be more instances of this card being issued.
Either it was a one off mistake (could be, Natwest’s systems are incredibly manual it seems) or the dude is telling porkies.
By all means try and let me know what you receive. I’d love to be wrong.
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We know very little about those who apply and get/don’t get a Drummonds card.
Maybe the threshold is whether one meets premier banking criteria? I certainly don’t – I wonder if others who applied and didn’t get the card are eligible for premier.
My best shot is probably to go in, and ask nicely when I’m nearby in the next month or two. Someone on MSE says they know people who work nearby and have the card. Again, that would be a shot in the dark too.
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We understand presently that it is not that (again, relying on somebody being honest on the internet tho).
I doubt very much it is an internal scoring thing at all personally.
Agree on both accounts.
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Not sure what people would gain from misrepresenting how they got/haven’t got a card but maybe I’m being naive. It certainly is something that baffles/interests me on this very hot day
Yes, although one might struggle to understand what additional benefit you could gain from holding the card at all…
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True!
My thinking is that people who are just eligible for a Drummonds account won’t feel the need to share it with the world, so if someone who shouldn’t finds a loophole they’re more likely to share. I suppose that also makes them more likely to not necessarily tell the truth 
Wonder if it’s anything to do with most Drummonds cards issued online are online-only, or is the online/offline difference only a factor with Child & Co?
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Here’s the post I referred to by the way
Just to support this with an anecdote of mine: I was once sent a left-handed chequebook “by accident”, seemingly due to someone selecting the wrong drop-down box in the back office when I requested it!
Based on the BIN of my “standard” RBS Visa on the Drummonds sort code (and I do have a Drummonds chequebook, by the way) it is an offline-capable card. I would expect that, given that I have other offline cards with RBS (Child & Co) and NatWest.
The Child & Co arrangement appeared to be that the sort code override applied to any account held at 15-80-00, but the Child & Co card only existed in an offline-capable version. As a result, if general RBS credit-checking analysis revealed that you were too much of a risk to have an online card, you would get a standard RBS card instead as a fallback. You would still, however, have a Child & Co account - so you would get branded chequebooks and statements. There was no “higher bar” of premier or near-premier status needed for the card.
Drummonds works differently. Based on what people who have opened accounts at Drummonds and Child & Co branches with physical in-branch appointments have said, there is a card-type drop-down box where the advisor can select card type. On the list is “Drummonds Debit”, a branded card like Child & Co (and presumably also only in an offline-capable version). The key point is that this has to be specifically selected by the branch staff - there is no general override system in place, based on sort code, as was the case with Child & Co. Some kind of criteria do appear to be applied to this, at the ultimate discretion of the branch staff. Loosely, you appear to need some kind of “relationship” with the branch.
This is with the caveat that it’s all anecdotal and based on people not lying on the internet, but it appears to be true based on the experience of many.
Also, a final thought: if you open a product at a new branch now, you will change your “home sort code” in the RBS system. This means that when you open new products in the future, they will default to the same sort code. I would therefore be potentially a bit wary of “losing” 15-80-00 as your home sort code, just in case it is removed as an option and you cannot “get it back” when opening new accounts in the future - whereas if it is already your default, you may be grandfathered in to Child & Co. RBS could also revamp their website/app and remove the sort code picker entirely at any time. They may well do this after October, when all RBS branches in England (other than Drummonds and Holt’s) will have closed.
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Thanks for the warning – so if I open an account at Drummonds, any future products will use their sort code? In that case, just to be safe and not to lose 15-80-00 (a much nicer sort code in my opinion) I probably won’t take a pot shot at Drummonds – I’ll only do it if I can get an appointment in branch and they say I can get the Drummonds card
Although of course there are lots of ifs and buts – it may well be that they’ll entirely stop applications at 15-80-00 at some point and even existing customers will receive a new, random sort code when applying.
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Yes, by default.
Right now, you get the option to open at the same branch or another one, and get directed to put in a sort code if you select another branch.
However, the trend is clearly to remove such options (partly in pursuit of simpler application processes) and my personal speculation is that the option may well be gone once pretty much all their branches in England have closed in October. I should say that’s speculation, but it seems to be the direction of travel (I hope I’m wrong though).
I remember @WillPS discussing how unlikely it was that they would retain Holt’s, Child & Co and Drummonds if they decided to close all English RBS branches - but I suppose I was almost right, in that they are retaining Drummonds and Holt’s, but have just decided to merge Child & Co with Drummonds rather than keep that as well. Not too surprising, as there is form for it: Holt’s once had a Whitehall office which was “merged” into Drummonds some time ago, and both Drummonds and Child & Co did utilise a shared team (as they were both under RBS Premier banking, rather than managed totally separately like Coutts).
You could always open an account at Drummonds, quickly followed (about a week later) by Child & Co while the form is still there to “move your home sort code back” to 15-80-00. You would have two credit searches though, so a bit of a hit to the file!
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The default sort code is whatever sort code was used on the last account opened. If you open an account in branch they’ll always use the branch’s sort code in my experience - although in the case of Child’s you would probably have ended up on the public ‘RBS Fleet Street’ sort code rather than the cool 15-80-00 one. I don’t know if Drummond’s have a similar ‘riff raff’ sort code set up.
I will add that when my fiancée set up a new RBS account via her app she was offered the choice of either her existing branch " , , EC4Y 1BD" (i.e. the default option) or another which she could choose from a list. This does not appear to be a universal experience however.
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I’ve never been able to work that out!
16-00-11 was the “riffraff” sort code at Child & Co, labelled as “RBS Fleet Street”.
Drummonds does have two sort codes, the historic 16-00-38 which is equivalent (or similar) to Child & Co’s 15-80-00. They also have the private banking sort code 16-00-50, which is probably what they put most new, genuine HNW customers on.
is that what I said?
I seem to remember saying how shocking the Child & Co closure announcement was, and you posited the question along the lines of: the context is clearly with the NatWest brand being favoured and RBS now relegated to regional status in Scotland only; if RBS closed every branch in England and Wales you wouldn’t seriously expect Child & Co, Drummonds and Holt’s to survive, would you?
And I said “I always thought they would be the last to close, and preserved due to their history”, or words to that effect.
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Had I thought of wanting to try to get a Drummonds card sooner, I would have done it like that but over a longer period of time. I don’t have any large credit applications coming up in the next year, but I have 2 bank account hard searches already so not sure if I want to take on 2 more…
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