Opinions on The Co-Op?

JacksterD

The co-op's great in terms of branch banking and phone banking, but the online banking is prehistoric.

Bosie

My OH has kept a Smile account open and he's been with them almost 7 years, he has a few direct debits to keep it ticking over.
Anyway the other day he must have forgotten about a DD and he had a secure message:eek: They said they were waiving the £30 charge as he'd never been overdrawn before, so that wasn't bad!
I too have held a co-op cashminder account for over 5 years, the only thing to watch is keeping an eye on what you've spent, as their online banking doesn't update too quick.

Otherwise they are pretty good.

Consumerist

Hi all,

Just to say how unusual, but nice, it is to hear something positive about a bank.

If only they were all a bit more like the Co-op. Might have a look-see.

lilac_lady

I have a small savings account with the Co-op that I use for holiday money. I've been thinking about moving my Santander current account so may choose a Co-op one.

Tubbss

Hi,

There are only a couple of branches of the co-op in Scotland, but if there is a Brittania Building Society near you then you can open a Co-op account with them as Brittania are now part of the Co-operative group of companies.

glenn_m

Tubbss wrote: »

Hi,

There are only a couple of branches of the co-op in Scotland, but if there is a Brittania Building Society near you then you can open a Co-op account with them as Brittania are now part of the Co-operative group of companies.

Does anyone happen to know if or when Britannia branches are going to be completely converted to Co-operative Bank branches?

Stuart_W

I've banked with The Co-op and Smile for over 13 years and very happy all round. The Britannia merger was formally completed in August 2009 and a three-year integration plan was mentioned. This is being done carefully and sensitively as a phased plan (much like their food arm has done with Somerfield which completes this year) but the plan is to allow Britannia and Co-operative customers to be able to use each others' branches. Certain Britannia products are available at Co-op branches at the moment, something similar I imagine will happen the other way round soon. The plan is ultimately for The Co-operative Bank to be the sole brand (just like Somerfield is disappearing) - but a promise of no redundancies of front line customer staff was made, so it isn't about closing down branches to save money - although I imagine the branch network will be geographically improved where duplicate branches may be closed to allow others to open, as many towns still don't have either Co-op or Britannia present and many places have both. The post office is available for cash/cheque deposits and cash withdrawals, too.

Several people on here complain about their internet banking - I'm happy with it - but a huge IT overhaul is taking place and a new system is due to come on line within the next year (although I don't know if Britannia integration has altered this). I guess it means iphone Apps, whizzy spreadsheet converters and some colourful pie-chart maker to make your debts look prettier. I won't be using any of that, but it could be useful for someone.

Certainly make sure you join The Co-operative Group and earn dividend on your account. I also use the Co-op Members' credit card, have a co-op mortgage and co-op insurance so my divi usually tops £200 each year!!

laurel7172

They're not bad. I got a bit annoyed with them last autumn when I had an ongoing saga to do with my debit card being cancelled because another was in the post because a card reader was in the post, but it's the first time. And there was a postal strike on. But an email to warn me that my card was about to be cancelled and why really wouldn't have hurt.

A small niggle is that they seem to be deeply concerned I'm not in enough debt, and every time I ring them their (always helpful and charming) call centre staff have (reluctantly) to try to sell me some. Oh....er...just one thing before you go...

JimBlizz

As a side note, you could insure a blackberry for much less.

I use http://www.cusc.co.uk for my Google Nexus One (a £400 smart phone) and it costs me less than £60 for the year.

Jim

Tubbss

Hi,

The mobile phone insurance that comes with the packages accounts covers upto 4 phones, each upto £600, so if there are several phones in the household the package account is well worth it!