Cooperative Bank's Sustainability Savings Bond 9.5% 2024

ajec196

I had an email from what looks like a legit coop website, detailing a new round of bonds at 9.5% which seems like a good return for stashing your money away for 5 years.
I can't find much information online about them. I am surprised as it seems like a good return (too good to be true? I always like to do due diligence before parting with so much as an email address).
I wondered if anyone else knew anything about them, or has had a similar email, or has invested in anything similar in the past?

Bottom line: Is it legit?

Cheers all,

Al

ircE

https://sustainablecoop.co.uk/

Yep - definitely a scam.

See The Co-operative Bank's official web page for its savings accounts here -

https://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/products/savings/

eskbanker

Looks suspicious to me - apart from the rate, if it's associated with the site https://sustainablecoop.co.uk/, that's notably omitting all the usual data required by financial institutions, so is likely to be a clone site.

wmb194

ajec196 said:

I had an email from what looks like a legit coop website, detailing a new round of bonds at 9.5% which seems like a good return for stashing your money away for 5 years.
I can't find much information online about them. I am surprised as it seems like a good return (too good to be true? I always like to do due diligence before parting with so much as an email address).
I wondered if anyone else knew anything about them, or has had a similar email, or has invested in anything similar in the past?

Bottom line: Is it legit?

Cheers all,

Al

Scam but it claims to be Co-op *Group, not Bank. Somehow you've found yourself on a scammer's e-mail list.

ColdIron

It's an obvious scam

Apart from a totally unrealistic rate, absence company details, registration number, FRN number etc the only link that doesn't redirect to legitimate sites is the one where you 'register' so they can collect your details

How did they get your email address? Facebook link?

Eyeful

Do you mean the 9,5% return from https://sustainablecoop.co.uk/ . This website was created on the 1 Dec 2023.

Looking at the website they call this 9.5% , savings, then an investment.

(a). The best savings bond today pays about 5.25%.

FTSE 100 yield = 3.84% (lets call this average investment risk)

(b) 2 x (FTSE 100 yield) = 7.68% = High risk investment risk

Both (a) & (b) alone are red flags. Other red flags are mentioned by other posters above.

 This is what two scam checking sites think of them:-
https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/sustainablecoop-co-uk-review/
https://www.scamdoc.com/view/1806106

jaypers

Just by the rate itself, it’s so obviously a scam without even checking. As soon as you start digging, scam confirmed. No wonder so many people fall for these things……if it sounds too good to be true, it always is.

jameseonline

Seems like a scam to me.

9.5% is a unrealistic rate today.

That said I do have a 9% Saffron account which is gonna mature soon but that's only on £50 a month 😁

Savings bonds can pay 5.50% or above, other Regular Savings accounts can pay up to 7%

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts/?utm_campaign=mse_topics

poseidon1

Frankly common sense would dictate that outsized interest returns on lump sums  supposedly from a household name is obviously and clearly a fraudulent scam and should be consigned to junk mail.

Is it possible to earn very high interest on an investment  ( ie not from a standard savings account ) then yes. 

There is a small universe of LSE stock market listed  interest bearing securities paying as high as 12% ( nominal face value). These include corporate bonds ( lending to stockmarket listed companies) and Permanent Interest Bearing Bonds ( PIBs ) ( ie lending to Building Societies).

So as an example Co op group Ltd have an LSE listed 11% bond maturing on 22 December 2025. Price to buy currently around £107 for each £100 face value so a running yield of around 10.33% to redemption, although there is the complication that this is not a 'clean' price ( there would be accrued income payable to the seller of the bond).

Interestingly, Co op Bank ( a wholly unrelated entity not to be confused with Co op group Ltd)  , did have an LSE listed 9.5% Bond (or to give its specific description - Fixed Rate Reset Callable Subordinated  Tier 2  Note ) with a 25 April 2029 redemption date.It  was issued  on 23 April 2019 and minimum dealing size of £100k. However the Bank redeemed it early, and replaced it with another note they were able to sell to institutions at a better price.

Are these suitable  for the  majority of  UK savers?  That would be a resounding no!

 The risks of losing or severely diminishing your intial investment can be considerable ( Although far less so in the example above of the 11% bond given the short duration). 

Although these securities can be bought and sold via the popular DIY investment platforms such as HL, II and A J Bell,  one would need to pass their respective 'sophiscated investor test' in order to be allowed to purchase these securities. In that regard they can be considered esoteric investments requiring considerable specialist knowledge and understanding.

So as a rule of thumb any lump sum financial entity  purporting to offer way in excess of the norm for retail savers is either an obvious scam, or beyond the understanding ( and suitability) of the average saver.

LHW99

This website was created on the 1 Dec 2024.

With a time machine??

ajec196

Thank you all - this is why we come here :-)