Phone call from Co-Operative Bank

rubble2

Hi,

I have a personal loan with Co-op, it still has a couple of years to go - no problems all paid up to date. I got a phone call from them yesterday out of the blue inviting me to attend a meeting in order to ' See if they can reduce the interest rate on the loan' and therefore save me some money.

I have provisionally agreed to go and see them in the New Year but the more I think about it the more I think it will just be a hard sell to take out more products / switch current account to them etc.

Just wondered if anyone else had experience of this and wondered if I should proceed or just cancel the interview.

Apparently I was selected for this service as I am a 'Prime Customer' (although the loan is the only service I take from them)

Appreciate any feedback

castle96

just ask them what they want...

It is no doubt to sell you something. Ethical ! no

EssexExile

rubble2 wrote: »

I am a 'Prime Customer'

I'm a "Select customer" of Santander, they keep inviting me in to "help" me with my finances. I'm managing quite well without their help.

thebritishbloke

Might as well go to the meeting and see if they can reduce your interest rate. Just don't get suckered in to buy more products, simple.

BMN

I imagine they will be looking at re-financing your existing loan at a lower interest rate, which as they have told you could save you money. If you have any other debts it could be worth consolidating them too.

If they offer you any other products which you feel you don't want and/or need you only have to say no.

rubble2 wrote: »

switch current account to them

Have a think about this because they are currently offering £100 to you and £25 to charity if you switch your current account.

loveandlight

I would ignore them and not go. It happened to me a few years ago. I wouldn't take out a new credit card with them so they wiped out all my available credit with the one I already had with them as revenge. Keep well away from the Co-Op.

Stuart_W

If you've had the loan for a few years, you probably can get a lower interest rate by transferring to a new loan - but you can work this out for yourself http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/loans rather than replying on a salesperson.

Whilst the currently available personal loan rate of 4.9% could very well be lower than your current rate, that doesn't mean you'll necessarily save you money. 4.9% is only available on loans of £7,500 or more. You may not need this much. Make sure you look at the actual amount of interest you end up paying over whatever the period is, not the rate.

You can, however, choose to repay all or part of the loan at any time - so you might work out best getting a bigger loan than you need and repaying a big chunck (using the loan money) virtually immediately. A £7,500 loan has 4.9% rate but a £2,500 loan has a 20.9% rate - so if you wanted £2,500 get the bigger loan and repay £5,000 straight away. There will be 58 days interest, but that's much less than paying the higher rate for the full loan term.

Early repayment is quite clear here: http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/assets/pdf/bank/loans/summarybox/personal-loan-current-summary-box.pdf

All a bit bonkers really.

The actual rates they offer you will depend on your circumstances, but the same principle always applies.

Herbalus

As long as you know it's a sales appointment, you've won half the battle. You now have the choice of going to the sales meeting or not. Depends if you think it's worth your time, or if you're bored and have nothing better to do than listen to them, get a cup of coffee, and then say 'no' to everything if you want.