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

SickGroove

How long does the Regular Saver account take to appear in your online account? 

My application for it was approved yesterday evening but not yet showing online. 

Usually, with other banks it appears straight away once approved.

WillPS

SickGroove said:

How long does the Regular Saver account take to appear in your online account? 

My application for it was approved yesterday evening but not yet showing online. 

Usually, with other banks it appears straight away once approved.

For some it was as quick as next working day, for others many days. It seems to require some sort of manual action, and is early on in its life it was rather prone to applications being lost.

Give it until the end of the week, I would say.

mrkds

I was lulled into doing a switch, by the £75+ incentive and access to the regular saver. 

So far im not impressed with my experience with Coop Bank. As mentioned in previous comments,  poor / inconsisent communication, everything seems slow or involves extra hassle which you dont have with other banks.  

You need to phone up for many things (usually a 30+ min wait!) The app is pretty basic (no option to set up standing orders?!?)

I would pop into branch which i live close to, but their opening hours are terrible: closes at 3pm and closed all weekend, a bit useless if you work standard 9-5 hours.  I therfore have no option but to sit on hold for 30+ min everytime i need help. 

The thing that bothered me the most is, you need to call them to set up the Visa Secure password to use the debit card (which you need to do to fulfil the critera for the £75 incentive). To do this you need to read out the password to the operator who then sets it up for you. This seems increadibly insecure to me! How is this not something you do yourself via the website / app or an automated phone service? Reading out a password which is supposed to be kept secret set off all sorts of alarm bells for me. 

I definitly wont be using this as my main bank in the long term. I dont think i even want to go through the hassle of chasing the additional 5×£15 incentive. 

Marcoos

Started my switch on 25/06, got an email yesterday with account details and told the account is ready to go. Well then a mention of a further 24 hours.. 

Is the account and sort code enough to setup app/online? Or do I need some sort of activation code also?

Debit card arrived today, going to leave that a few days while I think up the password for that.. not looking forward to it, especially after the feedback above about the process. Remember way back when I had a card with 3D secure on it, never seemed to work, or was hit and miss as to who actually required it.

WillPS

mrkds said:

The thing that bothered me the most is, you need to call them to set up the Visa Secure password to use the debit card (which you need to do to fulfil the critera for the £75 incentive). To do this you need to read out the password to the operator who then sets it up for you. This seems increadibly insecure to me! How is this not something you do yourself via the website / app or an automated phone service? Reading out a password which is supposed to be kept secret set off all sorts of alarm bells for me.

It's only insecure if you read out the password in a place you can be heard or use that password for anything else. It is a uniquely awful 3D secure experience all-round however.

Yorkshire_Pud

Offer ENDS on 5th July.

Just scraped in and set up two DDs today from existing credit cards.

Applied for the Regular Saver in the app all logged in but had to put full details in as if unknown to them 😜 after the memorable word question and clicking next box got a dark blue empty box except for return arrow and close. No confirmation it’s been received either in app or email of mobile number which they required so in limbo now not knowing if it will appear or has been approved or even been received?

mrkds

WillPS said:

It's only insecure if you read out the password in a place you can be heard or use that password for anything else. It is a uniquely awful 3D secure experience all-round however.

Youre still having to put alot of trust that the operator, or anyone else listening in, (who has all your account details infront of them) isnt going to try to use it for anything dodgy.

mrkds

Marcoos said:

  Remember way back when I had a card with 3D secure on it, never seemed to work, or was hit and miss as to who actually required it.

Ive made 5 transactions so far, and needed to enter the Visa Secure password, plus  confirmation via SMS text code all but once. 

Also, trying to add the card to Google Pay isnt straight forward. Need to phone them (again!) to set it up. Not sure i have cope with another half hour of their  hold music! 

They seem to have deliberatly made debit card spending as awkward as possible! 🤣

Yorkshire_Pud

mrkds said:

Marcoos said:

  Remember way back when I had a card with 3D secure on it, never seemed to work, or was hit and miss as to who actually required it.

Ive made 5 transactions so far, and needed to enter the Visa Secure password, plus  confirmation via SMS text code all but once. 

Also, trying to add the card to Google Pay isnt straight forward. Need to phone them (again!) to set it up. Not sure i have cope with another half hour of their  hold music! 

They seem to have deliberatly made debit card spending as awkward as possible! 🤣

They are like tsb!

Not sure but some banks will say that a Google payment does not count as debit card spend, they want the physical card.

gsmh

It's odd that it has been plain sailing for me. I am now using my new Co-operative Bank account as my main account and earnings/pensions go in and all my direct debits are flowing out nicely. When I've needed to call them, the calls have been answered in a timely manner. Maybe the account is designed for customers who wish to use it rather than for those jumping through hoops merely to access the incentive? It's certainly hugely better than it was last year when I closed the account in disgust. It's almost like a different bank.