It wasn't that long ago that we heard constant calls from various people for RBS to become a fully fledged arm of the state a sort of National Investment Bank dispensing loans to small- and medium-sized businesses, helping develop green sources of energy and investing in new and exciting technologies on behalf of taxpayers everywhere. So much for that.
This week we found out that it can't even manage its computer systems well enough to keep the retail side of the bank rolling over. Last Tuesday, a computer failure meant that customer balances stopped updating. So wages never appeared, transfers disappeared and chaos ensued: house moves and holidays ended up postponed and cancelled and one defendant is said to have had to spend an extra weekend in prison when his bail money vanished.
By this Tuesday (a week later!), the bank claimed to have updated the accounts of all but 1% of NatWest and RBS customers, although even RBS has said a "small number" of its customers will keep being hit by "unacceptable delays". Anyone with Ulster Bank will have to wait until at least next week to see a return to full service.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
So what do you do if you're caught up in this mess? First work out how you've been financially affected. Perhaps you've been charged for missing a payment on a card or for going overdrawn, which may have damaged your credit rating. These problems should be relatively easy to remedy.
RBS has promised that "no one will be out of pocket". So you should be able to get a refund (whether you are an RBS customer or not). You'll also be able to claim for extra expenses incurred as a result of being unable to get cash several customers have complained about missing flights due to being unable to get cash to pay taxis. Full details on how to claim will be revealed later this week.
Much the same goes for credit ratings missed payments can't be seen as your fault so you should be able to get them removed from your ratings by contacting the credit agencies (Experian, Equifax and Callcredit).
If you're short of cash as a result of all this, for now you can withdraw cash on your RBS/Natwest credit card, fee free with no interest for a month, and you can also call the bank to get emergency cash if you need to (0161-9319 959; 08457-777766; 0800-6569 639).
So far Moneysavingexpert.com reports RBS is being pretty lenient with interest-free overdrafts. Once your account is back in order you might move to a better bank. First Direct tops most of the customer surveys that I've seen.
