Is the Co Op Bank really ethical and fair to customers?

PetePetePete_2

Southend1 wrote: »

I don't really have an opinion on whether the charges are justifiable. I'm just saying they are easily avoided.

Avoided by paying on time, which I had every intention of complying with....

thatsean

PetePetePete wrote: »

I disagree with you. Provided I pay my bills on time it is up to me when I pay them. What I do think it is common sense is that they need to give me the information in a clear way to enable me to pay them on time.

You did not answer my question so I assume you cannot think of a good reason why the charges are justifiable.

You're right it is up to you, you know now when you have to pay them. Having to allow a bank processing time for a payment isn't new, I'm 32 and faster payments has only really been a benefit to me over the last 2/3 years. Back when I was at uni I had to post a cheque (remember them) off to Southend on Sea about a week and a half before the payment was due.

Aside from that, the Coop are ethical to a point - they wont fund the persecuting of gays, the culling of seals - or the trading of arms. I don't know how much impact this has, as I'm sure if you wanted to open your own rival to DeBeers you'd be tapping up Barclays or RBS first.

Coop did however lobby WITH the UK Aviation industry in the recent climate legislation debacle; (not terrible green thing to do) that, their support for Labour and my own experience of their dismal customer service means that I'm not a huge fan.

Hazzanet

I think the nub of the problem here is 'bill payments' between accounts with the Co-op.

If, say I pay my Nationwide Credit Card from the Co-op at 7pm on a Friday night, the transfer goes ahead straight away and the money is with Nationwide within two hours. Nationwide then allocates it to my Credit Card in whatever timeframe suits them.

If I pay a Co-op Credit Card on a Friday Night at 7pm, the transfer doesn't happen until Monday, crediting the card on Tuesday Morning.

Similarly, a family member pays me a sum of money each month from another Co-op based account. They get paid on a Friday so initiate the the bill payment transfer when they get home so I don't receive the payment until Monday. HOWEVER if they use the separate "Money Transfers" function, I get the payment immediately, but without the family member's name or meaningful reference.

It's a strange quirk of their system, and as others have mentioned, I adjust payment days accordingly to compensate for it.

innovate

I completely fail to understand the problem with paying a credit card in time. Give the credit card company at DD, make sure you understand when they take the payment (stated on the statement), have money in bank at that time. Where is the problem?

In 20-odd years, with many credit card companies and many banks involved, this has never let me down.

With DDs, you put the onus on the payee. If you don't want to do that, you have to assume responsibility for understanding all the intricacies of the systems of both the sending and the receiving bank. Make your choice, live with it. Don't bring 'ethics' into the debate, they got nothing to do with it.

PetePetePete_2

innovate wrote: »

I completely fail to understand the problem with paying a credit card in time. Give the credit card company at DD, make sure you understand when they take the payment (stated on the statement), have money in bank at that time. Where is the problem?

In 20-odd years, with many credit card companies and many banks involved, this has never let me down.

With DDs, you put the onus on the payee. If you don't want to do that, you have to assume responsibility for understanding all the intricacies of the systems of both the sending and the receiving bank. Make your choice, live with it. Don't bring 'ethics' into the debate, they got nothing to do with it.

Not sure how this helps. As far as I know you can either set up a DD to pay off the minimum amount or the full amount. One month I may want to pay off the full amount and another I may want to pay part. Flexibility is one reason why I have a credit card and setting up a DD does not help as it cannot mind read how much I want to pay from month to month...

And you are missing my point again about ethics. This post is not about co op's system problems per se, it is about how they deal with their customers who are tripped up as a result of those issues. You would have thought an organisation who claims they treat their customers in a fair and reasonable manner would be more sympathetic in these circumstances. Apparently not. If you do not care about this then fine, but I do.

innovate

PetePetePete wrote: »

Not sure how this helps. As far as I know you can either set up a DD to pay off the minimum amount or the full amount. One month I may want to pay off the full amount and another I may want to pay part. Flexibility is one reason why I have a credit card and setting up a DD does not help as it cannot mind read how much I want to pay from month to month...

As I said (or was trying to say) - - - your choice how you pay. If you want the flexibility of varying payments, it comes at the "cost" of understanding when exactly you need to pay.

THB, I don't understand why anyone would not want to pay off their CC bill in full every month (or min payment during 0% period). If you are temporarily short of cash, take out a loan or an overdraft - - - either are miles cheaper than a CC.

PetePetePete wrote: »

And you are missing my point again about ethics. This post is not about co op's system problems per se, it is about how they deal with their customers who are tripped up as a result of those issues. You would have thought an organisation who claims they treat their customers in a fair and reasonable manner would be more sympathetic in these circumstances. Apparently not. If you do not care about this then fine, but I do.

I care a lot about how I am treated by financial institutions, and I do complain, and demand (and did get) compensation/apologies, when they don't comply with their own T&Cs, or with the law. But they don't need to have an "ethical" badge (self-declared or bestowed) for me to deal with them. In the vast majority of cases, they are doing just as you would expect any reputable commercial outfit to do. After all, they are all FSA authorised, and none of them can afford to lose their licence.

The FSA licence doesn't distinguish between "ethical and fair" financial organisations and others - they imply that any company doing business under licence in the UK is behaving fairly, and has the commonly accepted ethics. Further than that, the FSA Handbook spells out the obligations of all licencees clearly.

dalesrider

PetePetePete wrote: »

One month I may want to pay off the full amount and another I may want to pay part. Flexibility is one reason why I have a credit card and setting up a DD does not help as it cannot mind read how much I want to pay from month to month...

So set up a min DD and if you want ot pay more then its not a issue. At least you won't hit any issues.

PetePetePete wrote: »

it is about how they deal with their customers who are tripped up as a result of those issues. You would have thought an organisation who claims they treat their customers in a fair and reasonable manner would be more sympathetic in these circumstances. Apparently not. If you do not care about this then fine, but I do.

Given it is a internal issue. Then they should refund any late fee's. So long as you have payed in time.

Raise it as a complaint. See where it goes. It will not cost you anything and may result in a full refund. :T
A I'm sure FOS would not look on this in a very good light.

callum9999

PetePetePete wrote: »

I suspect many people now rely on internet statements rather than paper statements. Paper statements are usually opened and then filed. However this problem happened soon after I joined co op and I assumed that the internet statement set out the same info as the paper statement as to payment etc. However, it does not.

So, you may say that it is my fault for not reading the paper statement, but then why should I when there is a statement on line and which purports to contain the same information? If the internet statement does not contain the same information, then why? Why isnt there a notice on the internet saying this statement cannot replace the paper statement and there is important information on the paper statement which is not in this statement etc...

I now know about the two day rule, but back then I didnt...

How absurd...

You can't just "file away" stuff the co-op sends you without bothering to read it and then rant about how they haven't told you about it... They HAVE told you about it, YOU chose to ignore it. Not to mention that it should be common knowledge that credit card payments can take a couple of days to clear - if you don't understand the system well enough to know that then you should have enquired before the last possible minute.

PetePetePete_2

callum9999 wrote: »

How absurd...

You can't just "file away" stuff the co-op sends you without bothering to read it and then rant about how they haven't told you about it... They HAVE told you about it, YOU chose to ignore it. Not to mention that it should be common knowledge that credit card payments can take a couple of days to clear - if you don't understand the system well enough to know that then you should have enquired before the last possible minute.

No, it is not absurd at all...

1. Why is the information on the online statement different to the paper statement?

2. Can you hold your hands up and say you read every tiny bit of every correspondence sent to you by your bank?

3. Having read one statement on line, would you go away and read the same statement on paper just to check if it had different information? I think not!

PetePetePete_2

Southend1 wrote: »

I don't really have an opinion on whether the charges are justifiable. I'm just saying they are easily avoided.

So why are you contributing to a thread when you do not have an opinion on the actual topic being debated?

I give up...