Co-op Bank Payment due today!

drewscott

Two ridiculous things about paying off your credit card:

1. You can't take it into the branch and give them cash, because "they haven't got the facilities to accept cash".
2. You cannot pay off any money over the phone because "we haven't got the facilities to accept debit cards".

B'jesus! Have they not realised yet that they are a bank?! What do they have in their branches if they don't handle cash?! Should I throw a carrier pigeon in the direction of Skelmersdale with a tenner strapped to it's leg? Would tit be easier to go in branch and barter with cattle?

I understand it's my own fault for not paying it off sooner. I do have some feeble excuses which I might put in writing and try and waive the £12 fee, but if anyone can shed ANY light as to why the above two aren't possible I'd be forever grateful. For now, it seems to defy all known logic, and my head it hurting trying to get over the concept of a bank not accepting cash. Thanks!

izools

Hmm... these must be very unpopular payment methods.

I myself have never paid over the phone or in branch.

I pay in one of these ways:

1. Online manual bill payment from my online banking
2. Standing order from my current account
3. Direct debit
4. Card payment on Credit Card companies' online banking

Could you not use some / all of the above?

Rainbow_Liberty

izools wrote: »

Hmm... these must be very unpopular payment methods.

I myself have never paid over the phone or in branch.

I pay in one of these ways:

1. Online manual bill payment from my online banking
2. Standing order from my current account
3. Direct debit
4. Card payment on Credit Card companies' online banking

Could you not use some / all of the above?

I think the problem was actually that the payment is due today, there are no methods to pay into the account on the day, in which case surely the date shouldn't be used as a due date in my opinion as you have to get the money there nearly a week before. Stupid if you ask me.

davetrousers

drewscott wrote: »

2. You cannot pay off any money over the phone because "we haven't got the facilities to accept debit cards".

Do it the other way then: Look on your COOP credit card statement at the how to pay on the back. There should be the details of how to pay over the phone. So phone your debit card issuer and say you'd like to pay a COOP credit card bill, they'll ask for the details on the back of the statement.

izools

mheymans wrote: »

I think the problem was actually that the payment is due today, there are no methods to pay into the account on the day, in which case surely the date shouldn't be used as a due date in my opinion as you have to get the money there nearly a week before. Stupid if you ask me.

Waiting until the due date to find out how to pay is stupid, if you ask me. Paying by Standing Order / Bill Payments from your bank takes two working days, not nearly a week

It is made clear on all credit card statements, that the due date, is the date on which the payment needs to have reached the account by, not the date by which the payment has been sent by the debtor. Clearance times etc are also made clear on the statement. It's just a matter of reading what's right in front of you!

drewscott

I do understand there are other ways to pay - I normally pay it off via internet banking as soon as the statement arrives. However, there ARE occasions when such things slip ones' mind - I haven't made a conscious decision to wait until today!

My beef is: you can pay cash into an account with a debit card, and it goes into your account immediately. Why can this not be done with a credit card? I don't even know what aspect of character is being insulted by being told over the phone that a bank hasn't got the facilities to accept cash! Madness!

Chris2000

Co-op used to accept payment by cash in a branch but recently stopped, citing lack of demand. More likely they are unable to comply with the new payment services regulations which require cash payments in a branch to be credited for value the same day.

Their sort code 08-90-98 accepts faster payments, I don't know how long Co-op take to process a payment that may be the fastest way to pay - assuming you have an account that can send faster payments.

izools

drewscott wrote: »

I do understand there are other ways to pay - I normally pay it off via internet banking as soon as the statement arrives. However, there ARE occasions when such things slip ones' mind - I haven't made a conscious decision to wait until today!

My beef is: you can pay cash into an account with a debit card, and it goes into your account immediately. Why can this not be done with a credit card? I don't even know what aspect of character is being insulted by being told over the phone that a bank hasn't got the facilities to accept cash! Madness!

I think the confusion here is the assumption that the Co-Operative Credit Card is run by the same branches at which you can open a Co-Operative Bank Account.

This is not the case, they are two destinctly separate companies that simply use the same branding.

It is the same with all credit card companies and banks. If you bank with the Co-Operative however you should be able to make a payment to the account from your current account and it would clear in to the credit card account the same day.

Barclays and Barclaycard work like this, too - if you pay cash into your Barclaycard branch, from your Barclays account, it takes three working days to clear. If however, you log into your Barclays online banking and pay the Barclaycard from there, the transaction goes through as a faster payment and reaches the credit card account the same day (shown the next day on the onlie billing with the day prior's date).

Perhaps if you don't hold a current account with the Co-Op, you could open up a basic one with no funding requirements (the CashMinder account) so that you can "Daisy Chain" a faster payment from your current bank, into the co-op cashminder account, and from there into your co-op credit card from the Cashminder online banking to avoid late fees?

Sounds like a insainely roundabout way of having to do things... but it's something that might work.

Best bed (as you've found out now no doubt) is to just plan a little better.

Or better yet - arrange for the Co-Op to set up a Direct Debit on your credit card for the minimum amount so that if the same happened again you'd be covered

drewscott

Ok, that does make a lot of sense, and thank-you. I have ordered a DD mandate-thing, but I think I'm going to just pay it off (it won't take long, I have a paltry student limit of £250) and ditch it.

In this fibre-optic age, who'd have thought electronic money transfers would still take so long!

ste_coxy

drewscott wrote: »

Ok, that does make a lot of sense, and thank-you. I have ordered a DD mandate-thing, but I think I'm going to just pay it off (it won't take long, I have a paltry student limit of £250) and ditch it.

In this fibre-optic age, who'd have thought electronic money transfers would still take so long!

I used 2 work for Co-Op bank and yes they only have a few branches sketched across the country and yes their facilities are not as vast as the big 4 banks however, they are a good little bank and I think bit more common sense is in order really with regards to leaving it until the due date to make a payment on your credit card.

They only accept payments by debit card if your payment is overdue and then you would be put through to the collections team who have this facility.

Your bank should be able to make a faster payment over to your credit card however, Co-Op may take 1 working day to allocate it to the actual credit card.

I don't get why you do not have a standing order/direct debit set up - this would make sure your payments are there on time and then stop you panicking when it comes to the due date.

Don't mean to have a pop sorry but I thought I needed to defend the Co-Op in this instance. It ain't their fault you have left it until your due date to pay.

Chadsman

Try phoning them up and explaining the situation. They might be able to make a suggestion or even waive the late fee.
...and at the same time set up a direct debit to pay the account.