Joint ethical bank accounts online

mullers63

Hi all
Any recommendations for ethical bank accounts offering full joint online access?
Thanks

gt94sss2

It all depends what you mean by ethical as each bank and individual has their own definition.
You could consider https://www.triodos.co.uk/current-accounts/current-account

gsmh

I have a Triodos current account and am very pleased with it. I use it as my daily account so direct debits are taken from it, my salary goes in and I use if for day to day spending. I was with the Co-operative Bank but was unhappy that it was taken over by US hedge-funders. Triodos is transparent about who it lends to so you can judge how you feel about it. It comes top of ethical accounts in the Ethical Consumer magazine.

One tip - Triodos doesn't do Apple Pay or Android Pay, but if you get a (free) Curve card you can add your Triodos account and in turn add the Curve card to Apple or Google Pay. What this means is you make the Curve card your default in Apple/Google Pay and when you make a contactless transaction, your Triodos account is immediately debited and the transaction shows the retailer name, preceded by CRV. Sounds a pain, but once set up (takes minutes) you'll never need to do it again. Curve is also useful for other accounts which normally don't allow contactless payment by phone - Capital One, for example.

https://www.curve.com/en-gb/

blue.peter

I rather like the look of Triodos, but not of their charging £3/month with, as far as I am aware, no cashback/interest/rewards.

If you want to see Co-op Bank's ethical policy, it can be downloaded from https://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/values-and-ethics .

gsmh

I was not keen on paying £3 initially, but then thought it's not a lot and sets me apart from those who grab every free penny they can from the banks. £3 a month gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling that I bank ethically. It doesn't matter whats the Co-operative Bank's ethical policy says, its owners, the people who profit from the bank, are absolutely not ethical.

jonesMUFCforever

gsmh said:

I was not keen on paying £3 initially, but then thought it's not a lot and sets me apart from those who grab every free penny they can from the banks. £3 a month gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling that I bank ethically. It doesn't matter whats the Co-operative Bank's ethical policy says, its owners, the people who profit from the bank, are absolutely not ethical.

I wish their MD could read this LOL - they need hundred of thousands of customers like you to break even let alone turn a profit.
I will stay with my unethical bank and get free banking.

gsmh

jonesMUFCforever said:

I wish their MD could read this LOL - they need hundred of thousands of customers like you to break even let alone turn a profit.
I will stay with my unethical bank and get free banking.

They have some fairly high profile borrowers. You can see exactly who they lend to on their website. The bank isn't relying on the £3 a month charge to achieve profitability. Are you suggesting a more ethical form of capitalism is not a good thing? Do you feel ethical if your bank pays you, knowing that isn't sustainable? Some on here perform financial gymnastics to get free money from various banks. Does that feel ethical? Clearly many do not care. I think history will prove them wrong.

blue.peter

gsmh said:

 It doesn't matter whats the Co-operative Bank's ethical policy says, its owners, the people who profit from the bank, are absolutely not ethical.

 @gsmh, do you have specific knowledge of unethical behaviour by that particular fund manager or do you only have an instinctive dislike of fund managers in general? I could understand the latter, simply because they generally have a poor reputation, but there are shades of grey. Some managers are better (or worse) than others. Indeed, some serve a useful purpose.

It's fair enough to be willing to pay a bit for a "warm, fuzzy feeling". I do, in that I think I probably pay a bit more for my domestic energy supply by buying renewable. It gets very difficult when you're trying to choose investments for a stocks & shares ISA, though. The best I've been able to do there is to buy ethical funds, even though I might not be too keen on the investment managers (if I knew more about them). I like to know, for example, that my money isn't invested in tobacco or armaments. Co-op bank, in spite of any problems with its owners, seems analagous to this.

I don't think that choosing a bank solely on the basis of its ownership is necessarily the best idea. At the very least, other criteria must come into play. For example, Royal Bank of Scotland might have a truly wonderful owner, but I still wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. I've learnt the hard way that its service is execrable. (I found banking with them like enduring the Chinese water torture. Without breaching any of their Ts & Cs or policies, they subjected me to a steady stream of minor frustrations, inconveniences and irritations. Nothing was, on its own, worthy of a complaint, but the cumulative effect was sufficient for me to sacrifice the £50 promised for staying a year just to get away from them.)

As a matter of curiosity, since I would consider Triodos in the future in spite of its monthly charge, what's their service like? In particular, how does their online banking system compare with others? Have you found any particular benefits or disadvantages in day-to-day use?

eskbanker

blue.peter said:
Royal Bank of Scotland might have a truly wonderful owner

Why thank you, that's very kind of you to say so!


* I don't actually buy into this notion that a government stake means that every individual taxpayer can legitimately claim some sort of ownership in any meaningful sense, but it doesn't stop some from adding "...but WE OWN THEM" when objecting indignantly to some or other RBS practices....

gsmh

blue.peter said:

@gsmh, do you have specific knowledge of unethical behaviour by that particular fund manager or do you only have an instinctive dislike of fund managers in general?

To be fair I did read up about them a while back and it left me feeling uneasy, but I don't like the way hedge-funders plough in when a company is failing, then sell it on later - as they are now trying to do with the Co-operatve Bank. They're in it purely for the money. I understand it could be argued that they save a company from collapse and attempt to turn it around, but as far as ethics are concerned I am happier with an ownership which shares the values of the company. Triodos absolutely does that. The bank was founded as an anthroposophical initiative.

I am very happy with the service I receive from Triodos. It has an excellent mobile app and online banking is pretty much on a par with other banks. You need a Digipass device to log in online, but not on the phone. For unusual or high worth transactions the Digipass is needed to verify the transaction. Not my favourite mechanism but it works fine and much of the time in the mobile app it is not needed. You can do pretty much everything you need to do online - since there are no branches this would have to be the case. Transactions appear in the online ledger immediately - I was never a fan of this with Starling, but with Triodos it is pretty consistent and I treat such transactions as cleared even though they are technically pending. You can lock/unlock your card by sending a text message. Currently you cannot see direct debits in the mobile app.

Used in conjunction with the Curve card for Apple/Google Pay day to day usage is just like any other bank. The card itself is contactless. Triodos uses RBS as its clearing bank, unfortunately. I have raised the issue with them and the reply was understandable in that they are not big enough to provide their own clearing services and have to use a third party for this. As you probably know, many smaller banks do the same. Metro Bank uses Barclays, Handlesbanken uses RBS and so on.

When I needed to call them, the call was answered very quickly by a member of staff in their Bristol HQ who clearly knew what they were talking about. I was very happy with that.

A downside for some is that there is no facility for paying in cash. Given that most of us on here have more than one current account it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm happier with Triodos than I have been with any other bank - and I've been with all the regulars, and some not so regular.

If there's anything else you'd like to know, please ask.

blue.peter

@gsmh, thank you. That's very helpful.