Cahoot; Good, Bad or Ugly????

Cerbera_2

Hi all,

I'm in the process of clearing my overdraft with the Halifax via SBT, so I will no longer be 'tied' to them.
I've been looking around and Cahoot seem to look OK; I particularly like free £250 buffer overdraft [for emergencies]
Does anyone have any good reviews or nasty stories??

Also is it bad for your credit rating to move banks as they always ask how long with previous bank? [I've been with the Halifax for eight years now]

realaledrinker

I thought I was pretty switched on as a stoozer having nearly £50K in my cahoot savings account yet didn't realise I could "stooze" another £250 from my dormat current a/c, so thanks for that.

My only gripe with cahoot is that they take 4 working days rather than 3 to transfer funds into other banks.

grumbler

Cerbera wrote:

Also is it bad for your credit rating to move banks as they always ask how long with previous bank? [I've been with the Halifax for eight years now]

Why move? Keep your old account with £1 and open a new one ...

WSO

I was just about to ask for experiences with using Cahoot on a day to day basis, so I hope you don't mind me joining in on this one.

I can answer a query with comments about the overdraft... I got my Cahoot current account about 2 or 3 years ago now... never put in any money, only withdrawn/spent close to the £250 limit (so long ago now that my card was swallowed when I tried to check my balance last Sun!). However, they have not hassled me to pay any money in to pay it back so used it as a bit of a (albeit tiny) stooze pot to top up savings (OH has done same and again with no hassle or requests for the money and no interest to pay).

What I want to know is how does Cahoot compare with IF with regards to moving money between savings and current account (I plan to hold money in the savings until I need it in the current account for the bills)?

I like the fact that I can move (and use) money from savings to pay a debit card transaction on same day with IF without going technically overdrawn... is this possible with Cahoot or would I have to do transfer to current account day before as current account conditions appear to suggest?

My biggest concern is 3.6 of the current account conditions:-

"Automated deposits paid into your cahoot current account will normally be credited at the beginning of the working day that they are due. Automated withdrawls from your cahoot current account (eg standing orders, Direct Debits or other electronic payments) will normally be debited at the end of the working day that they are due. However, deposits paid into your cahoot current account on the day an automated withdrawl is expected may not always be available to meet that withdrawl. Please ensure that you have sufficient funds in your account for automated withdrawls, and that you do not rely upon automated deposits to meet these commitments."

My pay goes in, on or before the 25th, the mortgage comes out on the 25th. With IF, this isn't a problem when it's the same day but this hints it could be with Cahoot... what are other peoples experience of this when running close to the "unauthorised overdraft" limit - should I change the date of my DDs to the 26th just to be sure (once I start using Cahoot as my main account of course)?

YorkshireBoy

websiteowner wrote:

My pay goes in, on or before the 25th, the mortgage comes out on the 25th......should I change the date of my DDs to the 26th just to be sure ?

Sorry, haven't a clue about the Cahoot account operation. Just wanted to say that, for me, these transactions are too close together.

I had something similar when I changed jobs a couple of years ago. I was paid on the 19th, and my mortgage DD was taken on the 28th.

The new job paid on the last Friday of the month so I contacted my mortgage lender and moved their DD back to the 5th of the following month. This allowed me to maintain a sufficient time frame to bring funds in from somewhere else should my BACS salary payment be late for whatever reason.

IMHO, you ought to consider doing the same.

Just my thoughts.

klondyke

We use cahoot as joint current account and have no grumbles. Transfers between current and savings are instant, but you can't do debit card transaction direct from savings. So, yes, you would need to transfer first to use debit card. But you can set up an advance BACS transfer (but not a Standing Order) from savings. Tell 'em the date you want it to leave, allowing at least 4 working days to reach destination. The dates you mention do look a bit close for comfort, so you might be best changing the DD date.

HTH

WSO

Perhaps I've been lucky in that I've not had any problems with wages getting to the account even a day late in the 3 years or so since I've been working where I have - but now that you mention it, perhaps it would be worth setting the DDs to the 1st - but knowing me I would be tempted to store it in the savings till it was due to come out anyway!

I prefer to run my account on a day to day basis and while it might be more convenient to set up advanced BACS trasfers on savings, I find the 4 days quite excessive - would rather initiate the transfer myself (and it show up instantly) particularly if the money "goes off the books" during an advanced BACS transfer between cahoot accounts.

So long as I can move money from cahoot savings to cahoot current to use those funds quickly (pref same day but certainly available next day) then I will be happy enough.

Thanks YorkshireBoy and klondyke for giving me something to think about tho...

YorkshireBoy

websiteowner wrote:

but now that you mention it, perhaps it would be worth setting the DDs to the 1st...

Just one more point (it was late last night!!)...

If you move the CC date back to the first of the month, you will in effect be "missing" one months mortgage payment.

I was OK when I moved mine because I had been making substantial overpayments, so had built up a surplus.

If you haven't got this surplus, or another agreement in place, they might mark you with a late payment on your credit file. One possible solution is to make an extra payment in the month before your date change (expensive though!). Check and ask them to confirm in writing if possible.

Just be very careful you don't mess up your credit file.

Cerbera_2

Found reviews about the Cahoot account, most are quite old reviews but do paint a picture.

Cahoot Reviews

Milarky

I have found cahoot works very well - and they even give you £10 at GreasyPalm to open one! If you have an Egg savings account too, you can get an additional day's interest I have found as follows:

cahoot savings ---by same day T/F --> cahoot current a/c --by instant deposit--> egg savings

THEN egg savings ---by BACS [2days]---> payee

Instead of

cahoot savings ---by same day T/F --> cahoot current a/c --by BACS [2days]---> payee

to make a payment

The transfer into egg is instant but the debit card withdrawal from cahoot takes one day [whatever day of the week] and so earns you 1 day's interest at 4%pa. The payment from egg reaches the payee on the same date as it would if it had been sent directly from cahoot.

The only [slight] niggle about cahoot as a bank is that statements can't be downloaded and the layout is [well!] a bit quirky. Also, they seem to 'update' the overnight balance a lot later than most - 8-9.30am - so you shouldn't check the balance before mid-morning.

I have also found that they can be very quick to respond to messages - but that applies to any account query not just current account ones.

If using the £250 free overdraft I have found that you will only be charged on amounts beyond the £250 on a daily basis. I got charged just 4p last month - so very satisfied to discover that.

WSO

Didn't think to check to see if I could get cashback on the Cahoot savings account I intend on opening up so thanks for that info Milarky - can't claim for the current account however as I already have one (will this affect my claim for the Greasy Palm rebate since I technically won't be a new customer?)

It doesn't bother me too much that balances won't be updated until mid morning as I work lates and am usually in bed until 10 or 11 anyway!

YorkshireBoy, the mortgage is a 3 year grad fixed rate with HSBC, made max overpayments of 20% in months 2 and 3 but nothing since (on about payment 6)... thing is I couldn't make any overpayments out of the normal shedule without some kind of penalty so I would hope that if I request moving it back 6 days or so the worst that would happen is that I have to pay the extra days interest incurred for the one payment - guess I will have to check this missed payment point as I contact the various companies about the change in bank details...

I intend to move the direct debits I have myself as I don't trust the switcher team to sort out the DD in time... besides, I did it myself when switching from HSBC to IF about 3 years ago without any hitches.