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Co Op or HSBC

245

Comments

  • If you call the Automated Telephone Banking (24hrs a day)
    for co-operative bank and press ## you get put through to a advisor.
  • alanq
    alanq Posts: 4,216 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Not forgetting First Direct's £100 inducement subject to Ts&Cs.
  • alanq wrote: »
    Not forgetting First Direct's £100 inducement subject to Ts&Cs.

    Yep *Open a 1st Account and transfer your monthly salary/income of at least £1,500 within three months and we will add £100 to your account.
  • Co-op (or smile) for their exceleent customer service. Have been with them years while "dabbling" with other banks for inducements - so impressed I'm sticking with them for good.

    You can also use the Post Office to pay in cheques/cash if needed - handy for saturday mornings.

    I like the no-shareholders aspect & you can get as involved as you want to in local co-op charity work. I believe their investing is more ethical than HSBC too.
    And I find that looking back at you gives a better view, a better view...
  • I have had an HSBC Account for 7 years now and more recently the Advance account. I also have the Co-op account setup recently. As from what the others have correctly stated on here

    For HSBC
    1. Excellent website, easy to use and quite ahead of most other banks (from my experience with Co-op, Natwest and Nationwide)
    2. You can send a secure email via online banking and also tell them to call at a particular time which isnt there for Co-op bank. I was so surprised it was missing and then realized the secure messaging feature is not across all banks. For me personally, that is an extremely important feature as I can get any question or problem sorted out without having to be on the phone.
    3. I dont find their Customer Service all that bad to be honest - their telebanking numbers are 24/7 but Customer Service isnt
    4. I travel a lot and being an HSBC customer will help if you want to setup accounts in another country where HSBC operates. Transferring money across such HSBC accounts is pretty easy too

    For Co-op
    1. As mentioned, its not share holder owned and more ethical than HSBC (from what we know of course)
    2. In the long run, their customer service being so nice, it may be easier to resolve issues with possible mortgages?
    3. Unlike HSBC, as of now, you can log in without the need of a security device

    Personally, because online banking is extremely important to me, I have to point out that their online banking sorely lacks a lot of features and is far behind that of HSBC's

    Overall, except for differences in online banking, you wont go wrong with either of them - but as other's have mentioned, get the best of both worlds and go to First Direct, they are 5 star though I dont know much about their online banking features and facilities

    DV
  • I'm have accounts with Co-op bank and HSBC. I'll try to summarise my personal experience:

    HSBC

    -Superior online banking, although Secure Key needed to log in and for some transactions.

    -Many more branches

    -Statements and any other requests are handled quickly

    -Generally good customer service but at time inflexible. They have constantly refused to increase my overdraft beyond £1000 despite me being a "good" customer and clearing all balances within days.

    -Excellent international coverage. I tend to go abroad sometimes and there is almost always an HSBC branch or some presence at my destination.

    Co-op

    -Online banking not as good as HSBC and card-reader needed for some transactions

    -not many branches

    -customer service polite and answer calls quickly but take ages to sort out any requests (e.g. opening an account, getting debit cards, getting extra statement copies, cheque books etc.)

    -"ethical" banking policy...I'm not sure what this means actually and I suspect that neither do they themselves

    Hope this helps.
  • alanq
    alanq Posts: 4,216 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    -"ethical" banking policy...I'm not sure what this means actually and I suspect that neither do they themselves

    http://www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/ethical-banking/
  • tagq2
    tagq2 Posts: 382 Forumite
    edited 28 November 2011 at 12:22PM
    alanq wrote: »
    A common retort is, "But they provide banking services and loans to New Labour and how many of the proscribed activities was its government involved with?"

    Anyway, an ideally operated current account is considered not to be profitable for a bank {{Disputed}}, so the Devil's advocate would argue that you need to home your current account at the least ethical bank. :A

    Honestly, the ownership policy of the Co-op seems to have resulted in a sound business, if nothing else. And they are vaguely selective with investments, even if not nearly as much as you might expect when you see "ethical" - to get straight to the point [Top Ten Holdings].
  • Gromitt
    Gromitt Posts: 5,063 Forumite
    I'd go with HSBC as I hate the online banking that co-op offer. Plus I'm not overly thrilled about the customer support knowing all my internet banking sign on details.

    Also, even though they have merged with Britannia, only certain Britannia branches handle co-op accounts for some strange reason. I walked into one the other day and was told I needed a Co-op branded Britannia instead, but I'd have to use the website to find one, and they didn't have access to the website.

    HSBC are not brilliant, but at least if it says HSBC on the sign outside, you can walk in and know you'll get served!
  • Gromitt wrote: »
    Plus I'm not overly thrilled about the customer support knowing all my internet banking sign on details.

    I second that - the Customer Services are aware of ALL your login details which does not make me feel really safe if there is a rogue agent in there. While I am sure they have sufficient security measures in place, this is something I'd not take lightly

    When I had to set up one of my answers, I gave a 3 letter answer which the agent did not realize was less than the minimum 4 character rule. Lucky me that I tried to login straight after the call and that particular question was asked. I was back on the phone with another agent who verified each of my answers to then find out the void 3 letter answer and asked me for another answer to the question. I was also told to enter the answer either all in lower or upper case as a mix of the two does not work - let's just say it wasnt a comforting experience for me

    DV
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