Coop gold card

jim_walton

Many many years ago I got a coop gold card that was free for life and also included travel insurance.  I've recently tried to find details of the travel insurance but nobody at the bank seems to know anything about it.  Does anyone on here have one of these cards?  

grumbler

"free for life" - what does this mean? Most CCs are free.

With regard to travel insurance, some cards did offer it and other perks deep in the past, but, I think, stopped doing this many years ago, at least 'free' ones.

Marchitiello

Quick google search came up with this:

https://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/assets/pdf/bank/creditcards/plus/credit-card-plus-worldwide-travel-insurance-policy-summaries-and-policy-documents.pdf

grumbler

And it's pretty fresh - 08/2021

jim_walton

Thanks for the replies. The meaning of the word free is definitely open to interpretation these days.. Maybe they have stopped the inclusive travel insurance but I don't recall them telling me. The policy Marchitiello linked to is the one I received originally back in the early nineties.. I've sent a secure message to the coop and I'll see what they say..

Ebe_Scrooge

jim_walton said:

The meaning of the word free is definitely open to interpretation these days.

I'm a little unclear as to what you mean by that.  The majority of mainstream credit cards are "free", inasmuch as they don't charge an annual free.  And as long as you're paying the balance in full each month, no interest is charged on purchases.

Certainly, there are some cards that charge an annual fee, usually in exchange for specific "perks" (travel insurance being one example).  In those cases, you need to work out whether the perks outweigh the cost of the fee, based on your personal circumstances and whether the perks are actually of value to you.

Marchitiello

jim_walton said:

Thanks for the replies. The meaning of the word free is definitely open to interpretation these days.. Maybe they have stopped the inclusive travel insurance but I don't recall them telling me. The policy Marchitiello linked to is the one I received originally back in the early nineties.. I've sent a secure message to the coop and I'll see what they say..

I am a bit unclear at this point if you still hold the card and if this is indeed the “Credit Card Plus” which would be a legacy product no longer offered to new applicant. If you do still hold that card product and were not instead moved to a different product (one of the current credit card on offer by the coop bank) then in all probability these are the T&C.. I also found a link to a Mobile insurance and another site offering lifestyle support (sounds like a concierge service similar to The Platinum by Amex) which are for this legacy “Credit Card Plus” product

jim_walton

They Said it Couldn't be Done: From The Cooperative Bank - The Launch of the Free for Life Gold Card 

Alison Todd

Campaign to launch the Co-operative Bank's Visa Gold Card (free for life) during 1991. The paper explains rationale for the campaign and research describing the Gold card 

Marchitiello

jim_walton said:

They Said it Couldn't be Done: From The Cooperative Bank - The Launch of the Free for Life Gold Card 

Alison Todd

Campaign to launch the Co-operative Bank's Visa Gold Card (free for life) during 1991. The paper explains rationale for the campaign and research describing the Gold card 

Again:

do you still own the card? Are you sure you were not transferred to a newer product? Do you receive monthly statements? If so, what do these say about what card you have?

if you really got this Card in 1991 or thereabouts, I believe Credit Cards at the time did indeed carry an annual fee, so the fact that now virtually all credit cards can be had for free (with notable exceptions for Rewards cards, Amex and few others) makes the “free for life” statement irrelevant. 

Also legislation regulating the credit card market have changed considerable since the early 1990’s and banks had to respond with changes of T&C numerous time which could have well resulted in consolidations of product offer, moving customers to different products, or closing the accounts all together.

if you no longer have the card, it may well be that your account was closed or moved to a different card product and hence there is no longer any associated insurance benefit

NoodleDoodleMan

We have the Co-op Rewards Account with worldwide travel insurance for £15 monthly fee - each year we get a letter from them confirming our continuing eligibility for this and other packaged benefits.

I assume the same would pertain to their Gold Card, unless no longer applicable..........which I suspect is the case.

WillPS

"For life" benefit in not actually lasting forever shock.