Smile/Co-op not so co-operative

Strider590

I've been with Smile/co-op for many years and I've never once been in the red, even during unemployment! I've been a loyal customer and I have an excellent credit rating too!

I've had a rough couple of months, mainly due to car insurance claims which have dragged on through my renewal costing in excess of £1500.

I've had to get work done on the car, new cambelt £300, 4 new tyre's £300 and there's around £600 I still need to spend.
(still not as costly as the depreciation on a new car, so please don't even think about it)

I've exhausted my savings accounts and figured what I needed was a £400 overdraft to get me through the next 2 months.

On any normal month I make around £500 that I can put into savings, that's after paying all my bills....
The overdraft has been refused because of my financial circumstances!!! well I wouldn't need an overdraft if I wasn't in a spot of bother!!! Totally ridiculous!!

On top of this I understand i'll be charged £50 a day for dipping into the red!!
I feel like my bank is kicking me into the ground, deliberately pushing me into a debt that i'll struggle to break free from!!
If I could pay for things on credit card next month, I might be ok.... but perhaps its a mere coincidence that my credit card no longer seems to work, my bank have no explanation as to why and beyond sending me a new one they're unwilling to help!

Well they'll have a shock coming because I WILL NOT allow my account to dip into the red!

Im so very disappointed and after things settle out im definitely changing banks!

Does anyone have similar experience and have you found a bank that's not trying to shaft you?

Mark_In_Hampshire

I recall a particular period in my life when I had to ask Nationwide to extend my overdraft limit because I'd made a mess of what I had paid out, and realised too late that a cheque was going to bounce.

The request wasn't processed for 3 days, so the cheque bounced.

I was furious and considered this to be poor service, but had to accept that I caused the problem in the first place.

Credit is harder to come by these days, even with an exemplary record. Fifty pounds a day seems rather excessive however.

davidgmmafan

My god that last bit of info actuall seems, dare I say it, reasonable. Certinaly in comparison to other banks.

I understand where the OP is coming from but its not a new thing...

"A banker is a feelow who loans you an umbrella on a fine summers day and demands it back at the first sign of rain."

Not sure who said it or when but I reckon its been around a while.

MrTomato

And if you haven't gone overdrawn in the past year, they won't charge you anyway. So if what you say is right about never being overdrawn in your 'many years' with them, you should be fine.

AnonymousForObviousReason

Could you ask for a short loan to cover you for this time?

davidgmmafan wrote: »

"A banker is a fellow who loans you an umbrella on a fine summers day and demands it back at the first sign of rain."

Not sure who said it or when but I reckon its been around a while.

I love this quote, I actually got praise from a teacher in Uni because I just got my Psion 5 and I drew a picture based on this in a class. :rotfl:

I remember it slightly differently and google puts it down to a Swiss quip (sounds like them )

mr6562

It's £20 per day that the overdraft increases, waived if you haven't been overdrawn in the past year and bring the account back into credit within 7 days. I've found them an extremely reasonable bank myself, though I won't go into details as perhaps circumstances differ. Did you ask them if the system recommended anything for you when you requested the overdraft?

davidgmmafan

As I posted above this is one of the most reasonable terms I've heard governing overdrafts. Sounds like they're actually trying to be fair to customers who have the odd problem. Shame most other banks work it so that if customer suffers they profit.

Its only fair that someone who makes an error and puts it right isn't charged a flat rate. Bravo to the Co-op.

kje_2

Why not change to a Smilemore account ? It's £13 per month and you get a fee-free overdraft of £500 with the first £260 being interest free. Use it for a few months then change back to an ordinary account.

kabads

I had a bad experience with Smile about a year ago. I arranged an overdraft over the phone which they were going to charge me £20 for a certain period (I can't remember how long now). I then cancelled the agreement, but they carried on charging me even though I was in the black. I called and they apologised and refunded. Then to top it all again, they charged me again and couldn't even see the charges in my statements (I had to explicitly point out where they were). Well, in terms of customer service that was my tipping point and I left for First Direct.

Since switching we haven't looked back. I didn't realise how niggled I was that I couldn't download my Smile statements in to my accounting software (was typing it all in manaully). I didn't realise how annoying their card-reader was. I didn't realise how bad their telephone service was (my wife really likes using the phone instead of online and FD is much, much better). It sometimes took Smile 2 days to answer an email (through their web bank interface) and I even had to prompt them by saying that I'd asked for information 2 days ago for them to answer. For me, this defeated the object of online banking.

I'm a firm believer that once you've been a customer for a long period of time, you soon get forgotten and overlooked. The only way to fix this is to leave and get better service elsewhere.

Before I switched, I explained all my issues to Smile hoping for some dates of when they might implement some of the features that FD were offering, but they couldn't say - but they said they would look in to it and hoped that I would one day come back to them. Until they fix those issues, there's no chance of that.

Strider590

will-in-estoril wrote: »

Not according to Smile: it is £20 per day, waived if you can regularise your account within six days.

http://www.smile.co.uk/cfscombi/pdf/smile_account_charges_120609.pdf

It's £20 + a £30 admin fee :mad:

rhirhi_2

i just thought i'd write a quick defence for smile/co-op.
i've been with smile for over 10 years although only changed my main bank account to them about 6 years ago after growing tired of terrible customer service from hsbc.
i've always found their customer service to be good (british call centres!!!) and their fees to be in line with the industry. in addition to this when i have received (in my opinion) unjust fees i have queeried it with them and have more often than not had them removed or reduced.