Co-Op Bank Switcher Offer - Launched 07/06/24

SickGroove

So, I've already put the max £250 into the regular saver (on the day it appeared in the app which was 4th July) so I guess once the initial £75 gets paid, I'll have until the end of August to put in the next £250 to qualify for the first additional £15 bonus...

So as I made my first regular saver deposit on 4th July, and the max deposit is £250 a month, I can put in the next £250 anytime after the 4th August to qualify for the first £15 bonus.

superdayold

Can I do the £1000 deposit in stages? £500 in,£500 out, repeat?

HillStreetBlues

superdayold said:

Can I do the £1000 deposit in stages? £500 in,£500 out, repeat?

Yes, you can

lyle1993

Got to say, i’ve been with almost all banks over the course of my switching career and Co-Op is by a distance the worst. Can’t add card for apple pay for someone unknown reason (they pretty much gave up on the phone and told me don’t know then), transfers taking excessively long time to come into account, payments constantly getting stopped for fraud which also takes an extensive amount of time. App looks out of date compared to others.

Oh and I sent them a secure message just to ask if I’d met the criteria for the switch offer and they just wrote ‘hey’ and then copied and pasted the offer from the website. 🤷‍♀️ 

Will be using this account to switch to another soon as I get the £75 I think. 

gsmh

lyle1993 said:

Got to say, i’ve been with almost all banks over the course of my switching career and Co-Op is by a distance the worst. Can’t add card for apple pay for someone unknown reason (they pretty much gave up on the phone and told me don’t know then), transfers taking excessively long time to come into account, payments constantly getting stopped for fraud which also takes an extensive amount of time. App looks out of date compared to others.

How did you find Triodos? What about The Bank of Ireland? Believe me some banks are *really* bad. I opened an account with The Co-operative a while ago and am finding it rather good. Interesting how others see things differently. I've had one payment held because their fraud algorithm identified it as possible fraud - quickly sorted with a phone call. I had to call them to add my debit card to Google Pay - annoying, but it is only needed once. The app is just as good as most other banks - depending on what you need to do. I prefer it to Barclays, Virgin Money, Triodos and others. It does everything I need. What is missing for you? If you need to keep blocking and unblocking your card, fair enough. How many payments have you had held for potential fraud? You say payments are 'constantly' stopped. That's really unusual. I'm finding faster payments take up to 5 minutes in either direction - usually faster. 

lyle1993

gsmh said:

lyle1993 said:

Got to say, i’ve been with almost all banks over the course of my switching career and Co-Op is by a distance the worst. Can’t add card for apple pay for someone unknown reason (they pretty much gave up on the phone and told me don’t know then), transfers taking excessively long time to come into account, payments constantly getting stopped for fraud which also takes an extensive amount of time. App looks out of date compared to others.

How did you find Triodos? What about The Bank of Ireland? Believe me some banks are *really* bad. I opened an account with The Co-operative a while ago and am finding it rather good. Interesting how others see things differently. I've had one payment held because their fraud algorithm identified it as possible fraud - quickly sorted with a phone call. I had to call them to add my debit card to Google Pay - annoying, but it is only needed once. The app is just as good as most other banks - depending on what you need to do. I prefer it to Barclays, Virgin Money, Triodos and others. It does everything I need. What is missing for you? If you need to keep blocking and unblocking your card, fair enough. How many payments have you had held for potential fraud? You say payments are 'constantly' stopped. That's really unusual. I'm finding faster payments take up to 5 minutes in either direction - usually faster. 

The account was opened Monday and i’ve had to ring three times. They gave up on my Apple Pay and left with me ‘just see if it works sometime soon’. Whilst the slower faster payments aren’t a huge inconvenience - when it’s instant with other banks I don’t get why it takes 5 minutes. Wouldn’t of taken much on message when I asked have I met all criteria to just tell me yes or no or say ring up and we can check rather than copy and paste job with all wonky formatting. 

Fair enough if you think they are better than those named. I use monzo day to day, have used starling. Hold Natwest, firstdirect, nationwide. Had Lloyds and HSBC. Have Amex app too. All far superior. 

gsmh

lyle1993 said:

Fair enough if you think they are better than those named. I use monzo day to day, have used starling. Hold Natwest, firstdirect, nationwide. Had Lloyds and HSBC. Have Amex app too. All far superior. 

I've also had accounts with the banks you named. Monzo is like banking in Toytown. I hated it and its app. Natwest is good, as is Lloyds and Starling - but not that much better than The Co-operative IMO. The FirstDirect online banking is recognised by many as being rather basic and poor, as is Nationwide. HSBC is similar. On a scale of 1 - 100, the various apps differ by around 10. There really isn't that massive difference you suggest. Co-operative = 65, Starling = 70. A small difference.

lyle1993

gsmh said:

lyle1993 said:

Fair enough if you think they are better than those named. I use monzo day to day, have used starling. Hold Natwest, firstdirect, nationwide. Had Lloyds and HSBC. Have Amex app too. All far superior. 

I've also had accounts with the banks you named. Monzo is like banking in Toytown. I hated it and its app. Natwest is good, as is Lloyds and Starling - but not that much better than The Co-operative IMO. The FirstDirect online banking is recognised by many as being rather basic and poor, as is Nationwide. HSBC is similar. On a scale of 1 - 100, the various apps differ by around 10. There really isn't that massive difference you suggest. Co-operative = 65, Starling = 70. A small difference.

All due respect - it is a matter of opinion. You’ve described Monzo as toytown but it is in most top ten lists for apps. Fair enough if you’re enjoying co-op - each to their own. The only measure for each individual is their own experience and mine has been poor. 

I transferred £1000 from co-op to monzo for the second time tonight just to ensure i’ve met banking conditions. Did it at 7pm on the dot. Half 9 now and still hasn’t arrived in my Monzo. Nothing off their fraud team to suggest it’s been stopped. My experience has been poor - glad yours has been different 👍🏻 

gsmh

lyle1993 said:

I transferred £1000 from co-op to monzo for the second time tonight just to ensure i’ve met banking conditions. Did it at 7pm on the dot. Half 9 now and still hasn’t arrived in my Monzo. Nothing off their fraud team to suggest it’s been stopped. My experience has been poor - glad yours has been different 👍🏻 

My expectations are always those of compromise. Every bank you have an account with is going to have flaws. It's a balancing act, and you make your own list of priorities. For me, ethical banking is top of the list. The bank which scores best on this is Triodos, but the banking experience with them is absolutely dire. Online and app-based banking should allow you to see transactions, both cleared and pending. You should be able to make payments to third parties and communicate with the bank. Direct debits and standing orders should there, and this is where NatWest, RBS and Ulster are worse - you only see direct debits which have been paid so you won't know if a new mandate is there, ready and waiting, until it actually gets called on. Card controls are good to have too.

Given the app or online banking is your interface with the bank it has to feel good to you, if you are reactive to such things. I rejected Virgin Money, Barclays and Monzo based on the online experience. The Barclays app has everything but the kitchen sink, but is overly complicated, unintuitive and overwhelming - in my opinion, of course, but I'm sure others love it.

To be fair, those switching just to take advantage of the free money seem to be having the problems. My pensions and part-time earnings as a supply teacher are paid into my Co-operative account and all my spending is from that account. I wonder if the flags are more relaxed when they can see such deposits being made? Only one payment I made to a credit card was held - and since then I have made numerous to various cards since I use a CC for Section 75 protection then immediately repay the balance. None have been held since that first conversation. Maybe the CS rep manually flags your account according to your response to the detailed questions they ask?

Ultimately it is all down to your own experience and nobody can convince you otherwise, and that is not my intention. Good luck with whichever bank you decide on for your main account,

SickGroove

So I deposited my first £250 into the regular saver on 04/07 and the first £75 bonus was paid into my current account on 08/07.....

Therefore, to qualify for the additional 5 x £15 paid monthly into the regular saver account, I believe I need to pay in min of £50 every month (effective August) into the regular saver.

As I made my first deposit on 04/07 do I need to wait until exactly 04/08 (IE a full month after my initial deposit) to put in my second deposit or can it be done on 01/08?

Cheers