Coventry BS Regular Saver

uptdale

I have several accounts with the Coventry and find their online banking and customer service pretty good. But opening this account has been a bit of a pain. You can't seem to open it online. You can apply online, but then they send you a letter and form by post which you you have to sign and return by post (itself a pain if your nearest postbox is 3 miles away, as ours is). They even ask you for 2 pieces of ID, even if you are an existing customer. They then open the account and send you another letter by post with the account details, so that only then can you make your first payment into the account - I haven't got that far yet, so I don't know when the account appears on their website.

Another oddity about this account is that it is a condition that you cannot pay into it from your other Coventry accounts. So if your main income is paid into your Coventry current account (as mine is), you cannot save money from your main income directly into the Regular Saver account. So you have to transfer money to another bank or building society and transfer it back to the Coventry Regular Saver account.

It looks like they do not want to encourage existing customers to open a Regular Saver account.

colsten

uptdale wrote: »

I have several accounts with the Coventry and find their online banking and customer service pretty good. But opening this account has been a bit of a pain. You can't seem to open it online. You can apply online, but then they send you a letter and form by post which you you have to sign and return by post (itself a pain if your nearest postbox is 3 miles away, as ours is). They even ask you for 2 pieces of ID, even if you are an existing customer. They then open the account and send you another letter by post with the account details, so that only then can you make your first payment into the account

It seems you were rather unlucky as most existing Coventry BS customers can open this account, and make their initial deposit into it, in a matter of minutes online.

uptdale wrote: »

- I haven't got that far yet, so I don't know when the account appears on their website.

It certainly does appear in your online banking.

uptdale wrote: »

Another oddity about this account is that it is a condition that you cannot pay into it from your other Coventry accounts. So if your main income is paid into your Coventry current account (as mine is), you cannot save money from your main income directly into the Regular Saver account. So you have to transfer money to another bank or building society and transfer it back to the Coventry Regular Saver account.

That seems rather odd. Have you tried to make a Faster Payment from your Coventry current account into the RS?

uptdale

It seems you were rather unlucky as most existing Coventry BS customers can open this account, and make their initial deposit into it, in a matter of minutes online.

Thanks, for that. I tried it again, and this time I could set it up online, and transfer money into it soon after.

It could be that when I tried to set it up first time, I was outside the UK, although I've never before had a problem managing my Coventry accounts from outside the UK.

But the condition that you cannot transfer money into the RS account from another Coventry account seems quite clear. And the instructions for the first deposit say "Transfer from another bank or building society account, please quote the following details on your instruction:...[or send then a cheque]".

colsten

uptdale wrote: »

But the condition that you cannot transfer money into the RS account from another Coventry account seems quite clear. And the instructions for the first deposit say "Transfer from another bank or building society account, please quote the following details on your instruction:...[or send then a cheque]".

You are right, the terms stipulate "You can’t put money into your Regular Saver from another Coventry Building Society account.". What a strange limitation.

d63

colsten wrote: »

You are right, the terms stipulate "You can’t put money into your Regular Saver from another Coventry Building Society account.". What a strange limitation.

the yorkshire building society has similar limitations on some of its new accounts (https://www.ybs.co.uk/savings/easy-access/index.html)
not entirely sure about their regular account tho, they just say something about switching is not allowed.

guess they are only interested in attracting new money

Gers

I’ve come late to this RS!

I applied online, got an account number and sort code immediately so did a FP of first £500 straight away. Now I await the onslaught of paperwork.

Never heard of the grid card, that should be interesting.

typistretired

Gers wrote: »

I’ve come late to this RS!

I applied online, got an account number and sort code immediately so did a FP of first £500 straight away. Now I await the onslaught of paperwork.

Never heard of the grid card, that should be interesting.

The grid card is a pain but you get used to it!

badger09

typistretired wrote: »

The grid card is a pain but you get used to it!

My dislike of the grid card is on a par with that for the, thankfully now not necessary, M&S secure pass thingy. The grid card addles my poor ageing brain, but at least I can have a photo or table of it on my phone:o

colsten

badger09 wrote: »

at least I can have a photo or table of it on my phone:o

That's what I do, too. Makes it marginally less annoying to use.

pafpcg

badger09 wrote: »

My dislike of the grid card is on a par with that for the, thankfully now not necessary, M&S secure pass thingy. ....

I prefer the grid cards from Coventry & Skipton BS to any of the electronic keypad devices - much quicker and easier to use. (And having printed the contents of the grid cards in an enlarged format, MUCH easier to read than a tiny screen. Oh, and the battery will never run out!)