Co-Op Bank Switch Incentive

nossa_2

I switched to the Co-Op in April ensuring I met the incentive criteria on the MSE site - this included having 4 active direct debits. MSE describe an active direct debit in the Co-Op switch section as follows:

an active direct debit is one that's paid out in the last 13 months, or – if it's never paid out – one that's less than 13 months old.

After much chasing and being lead up the garden path (this is the worst bank I've ever dealt with) they finally came back today - 5 weeks after they should have paid the incentive, to say I do not qualify. They state an active dd is 1 that has paid out of your Co-Op a/c. Their web site just says active dd - I do not doubt that MSE clarified with Co-op what that meant but now they are saying you have to have 4 dd's paid out from your a/c.

Really angry: :mad:

cifpower

The direct debit would be new to Co-Op. How would it know if it had been used before? Of course the direct debit would need to be 'active' with Co-Op to get the incentive!

eskbanker

Did/do all four direct debits show within your Co-op online banking?

nossa_2

Yes all dd show as live on my a/c - Cifpower there is a difference between active and paid out - as MSE clarified

teddysmum

They only informed you after 5 weeks because they only update incentives once a month.


We were existing customers when the reward system started and had no reward the first month. This was because our water direct debit was only over 10 months, but when I went into the local branch to register for rewards, the lady who checked that we had sufficient direct debits had failed to notice this.


It was easy enough to call Severn Trent and have the direct debits changed to 12 and the mistake was from human error.


I didn't rant that they were the worst bank ever and didn't demand compensation either. (After all, they had the option of closing our account without giving a reason).

eskbanker

They may be confusing their incentives - the switching one does indeed refer only to active DDs but their separate Everyday Rewards one is dependent on DDs paying out every month.

I don't see how they can argue that "an active dd is 1 that has paid out of your Co-Op a/c" because it obviously wouldn't have paid out of the new account at the time of switching! Ignore any MSE wording on this though - it's only the Co-op's wording that's relevant so complain to them on the basis of what they've published in their switching offer Ts & Cs.

Stuart_W

teddysmum wrote: »

... our water direct debit was only over 10 months, but when I went into the local branch to register for rewards, the lady who checked that we had sufficient direct debits had failed to notice this..

That would be because there would be nothing to notice. All she would have been able to see was an active direct debit and when it had been claimed. She could have theoretically manually looked back over the last 12 months and then deduced it was only claimed 10 times a year but unlikely. A direct debit as far as the bank is concerned is an open ended instruction for a third party to take out money when they want to. A separate agreement between you and the third party agrees what and when.

The terms and conditions for everyday rewards seem fairly clear.
In a qualifying month you need to "..Pay out at least four Direct Debits from your nominated account."

So she was right, you did have sufficient direct debits, they just needed to pay out each month for you to qualify.

Ed-1

Stuart_W wrote: »

That would be because there would be nothing to notice. All she would have been able to see was an active direct debit and when it had been claimed. She could have theoretically manually looked back over the last 12 months and then deduced it was only claimed 10 times a year but unlikely. A direct debit as far as the bank is concerned is an open ended instruction for a third party to take out money when they want to. A separate agreement between you and the third party agrees what and when.

The terms and conditions for everyday rewards seem fairly clear.
In a qualifying month you need to "..Pay out at least four Direct Debits from your nominated account."

So she was right, you did have sufficient direct debits, they just needed to pay out each month for you to qualify.

It's not the Everyday Rewards that OP is on about - it's the £110 switch incentive.

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/assets/pdf/bank/currentaccounts/common/switching-offer-terms-and-conditions.pdf

These terms state that you must "switch in a minimum of four active Direct Debits to your new current account, which must remain active until the incentive payment is made."

Active simply means "able to be collected" (i.e. not expired after 13 months) as it always has done.

badger09

Ed-1 wrote: »

It's not the Everyday Rewards that OP is on about - it's the £110 switch incentive.

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/assets/pdf/bank/currentaccounts/common/switching-offer-terms-and-conditions.pdf

These terms state that you must "switch in a minimum of four active Direct Debits to your new current account, which must remain active until the incentive payment is made."

Active simply means "able to be collected" (i.e. not expired after 13 months) as it always has done.

You are correct.
OP was not querying the Everyday Rewards incentive but teddysmum has replied as if they were :cool: Stuart_W was correcting her.

Mchambers

OP.....I had a problem like you where Co-op did not give me £110-00 switching bonus as I not have enough d/ds.

I simply switched my coop account to n/wide and then switched it back to coop to get the £110 bonus. I suggest you make sure the d/ds are active and/or have paid out before switching.

Silly games.

nossa_2

Believe me Mchambers if they now offered £1100 incentive I wouldn't touch them