Gambling issues

MalMonroe

rogertb said:

I’ll certainly look into that Alex, the co-op offer nothing for gamblers and I’ve just seen the fees they’ve charged me for foreign gambling transactions, rubbing salt in the wounds. I know I was stupid to indulge but an on-screen warning along the lines of “your bank might charge you a fee for making this payment” might have been useful, doubt it but .....

Sadly, banks are under no obligation to help gamblers. Or, indeed, anyone else.

As many of us here are saying, repeatedly, Gamblers Anonymous and the NHS can and will help you. It isn't the co-op's responsibility to monitor your spending. Until you go overdrawn that is. They don't care how or why you are overdrawn, they will just want their money back and, as you've discovered, their fees as well.

Put your cards away, make a cup of tea and then make some phone calls to the right places. You owe it to yourself.

Alex9384

MalMonroe said:

Sadly, banks are under no obligation to help gamblers. Or, indeed, anyone else.
As many of us here are saying, repeatedly, Gamblers Anonymous and the NHS can and will help you. It isn't the co-op's responsibility to monitor your spending. Until you go overdrawn that is. They don't care how or why you are overdrawn, they will just want their money back and, as you've discovered, their fees as well.
Put your cards away, make a cup of tea and then make some phone calls to the right places. You owe it to yourself.

True, but since their USP is that they are "ethical bank", I think I would expect them to care, at least a bit.

indigoblue11

MalMonroe said:

rogertb said:

I’ll certainly look into that Alex, the co-op offer nothing for gamblers and I’ve just seen the fees they’ve charged me for foreign gambling transactions, rubbing salt in the wounds. I know I was stupid to indulge but an on-screen warning along the lines of “your bank might charge you a fee for making this payment” might have been useful, doubt it but .....

Sadly, banks are under no obligation to help gamblers. Or, indeed, anyone else.

As many of us here are saying, repeatedly, Gamblers Anonymous and the NHS can and will help you. It isn't the co-op's responsibility to monitor your spending. Until you go overdrawn that is. They don't care how or why you are overdrawn, they will just want their money back and, as you've discovered, their fees as well.

Put your cards away, make a cup of tea and then make some phone calls to the right places. You owe it to yourself.

Im not sure that's 100% accurate. My bank called me a couple of weeks ago because they were concerned about me making more than usual payments to gambling sites. They also offered to put me in touch with people to help if this is an issue for me. I actually appreciated their call as it highlighted to me that it might be a problem and I stopped.

bullinn1

Interesting indigo, I donexpect my bank to sort out my personal problems but they do (or should have) the technological resources to look at the issues and attempt to help out, the coop have offered little or nothing, I’m looking elsewhere, Halifax have a gambling site exclusion button and a no on-line payments switch ... at least that’s a start ... it offers me some help and is much appreciated.

northwalesd

rogertb said:

Interesting indigo, I donexpect my bank to sort out my personal problems but they do (or should have) the technological resources to look at the issues and attempt to help out, the coop have offered little or nothing, I’m looking elsewhere, Halifax have a gambling site exclusion button and a no on-line payments switch ... at least that’s a start ... it offers me some help and is much appreciated.

Are you still tinkering aroudn the edges or have you taken on board any of the advice in this thread to get any help from either gamblers anonymous or the NHS?

bullinn1

The thread has been really helpful and no betting for over a week, I have joined ga but no meetings at the moment, their forum has been helpful though, thanks again northwalesd for taking such an interest. Have a good weekend.

MalMonroe

Alex9384 said:

MalMonroe said:

Sadly, banks are under no obligation to help gamblers. Or, indeed, anyone else.
As many of us here are saying, repeatedly, Gamblers Anonymous and the NHS can and will help you. It isn't the co-op's responsibility to monitor your spending. Until you go overdrawn that is. They don't care how or why you are overdrawn, they will just want their money back and, as you've discovered, their fees as well.
Put your cards away, make a cup of tea and then make some phone calls to the right places. You owe it to yourself.

True, but since their USP is that they are "ethical bank", I think I would expect them to care, at least a bit.

They are a business at the end of the day, though. I forgot to mention that I was with Co-op myself and switched to another bank because although Co-op accepted me at a time when I needed a basic bank account because of having a DRO, once it was all over (and I'm talking the full six years here) they refused to allow me to even have a contactless debit card.

In my experience they are NOT that 'ethical' and they DO NOT care. USPs, as I've discovered, are not worth the paper (or any other medium) they're printed on. Talk is cheap. I moved to Nationwide and they treated me as an adult and we've been happily co-existing since.

MalMonroe

indigoblue11 said:

MalMonroe said:

rogertb said:

I’ll certainly look into that Alex, the co-op offer nothing for gamblers and I’ve just seen the fees they’ve charged me for foreign gambling transactions, rubbing salt in the wounds. I know I was stupid to indulge but an on-screen warning along the lines of “your bank might charge you a fee for making this payment” might have been useful, doubt it but .....

Sadly, banks are under no obligation to help gamblers. Or, indeed, anyone else.

As many of us here are saying, repeatedly, Gamblers Anonymous and the NHS can and will help you. It isn't the co-op's responsibility to monitor your spending. Until you go overdrawn that is. They don't care how or why you are overdrawn, they will just want their money back and, as you've discovered, their fees as well.

Put your cards away, make a cup of tea and then make some phone calls to the right places. You owe it to yourself.

Im not sure that's 100% accurate. My bank called me a couple of weeks ago because they were concerned about me making more than usual payments to gambling sites. They also offered to put me in touch with people to help if this is an issue for me. I actually appreciated their call as it highlighted to me that it might be a problem and I stopped.

That's great and I'm glad you were helped. Gambling can be a massive problem for some people though and not all banks appreciate that, or try to help their customers. I omitted to say in my original post that I was also (in common with the OP) with Co-op for a number of years and found them to be lacking. I moved. 

bullinn1

I’m very close ro moving Mal not just the lack of interest in blocking gambling but several other issues of a more technical nature with their on-line interface, they don’t seem to be interested or don’t have the skills needed. Thanks also for your advice, this is an excellent resource, it has helped.

Sncjw

You mention Halifax but they have part on their card management where tou can freeze the use of it for gambling. I imagine that you woukd also be able to unfreeze it. This doesn't really solve the issue.

Maybe register with gamstop.