Co Operative Bank Review

Overall Rating

Ethical Investment

Lack of High Street accessibility
Poor online banking service
Poor telephone banking customer service
General service, e.g account transfers

Ethical Investment: With the Co-op I believe that my money will not be invested in the arms trade, the tobacco industry or anything else that tends to kill or exploit people. I think this is a very good reason for choosing a bank, and it must be one of the most popular reasons for people doing so, but it is the only reason I can think of for joining this bank, therefore I have only given it one point.

High Street Accessibility:
There are hardly any branches to be found, although if you have a local Post Office you can pay in cheques there.

Online Banking:
The website layout is very poor; functionality is limited and complicated, and statements are not up-to-date, making it harder to keep track of money coming in and out of your account.

General service, e.g. account transfers: When I transferred my account from my old bank, the Co-op literature told me that they had a 98% success rate in transferring standing orders and direct debits without any hitches. They promise to compensate £15 for any mistakes they make. In fact none of my standing orders or direct debits transferred automatically, but many were cancelled from my old account, leaving me with numerous unhappy people to answer to for non-payments of bills and rent! When I called customer services (I was charged per the minute), the lady I spoke to knew nothing about their published record of customer satisfaction or policy of compensation. I was transferred to a more senior adviser who also didn't know. She also didn't know who would know, but she gave me another telephone number where someone 'might' be able to help. But calling would have cost me more than £15 and it was not worth it. I ended up setting up my standing orders manually and instructing my direct debitors directly. To date, I still have one standing order that I left on my old account. I expect the 98% 'success rate' may have a little to do with the fact that, when people call their customer services, no one has a clue and nothing is logged.

Two months ago I went overdrawn on my account, by the time I realised I had already made 3 [post overdrawn] cash withdrawals. The Co-op have not programmed cash machines to decline cash withdrawals to overdrawn accounts [as my old bank, and many other banks, do]. There is a £25 charge every time you become more overdrawn. They do not send you a letter immediately to warn you [again, as many banks do, and charge you an administration fee for their letter, which is fair enough). The Co-op will simply let you go increasingly overdrawn without any limit and penalise you the following month without any notice. I was charged £100 in the next month, which caused me to go overdrawn again by £26, for which they penalised me and profited from my loss by another £25! When I called customer services, the adviser told me that I was an adult now (true) and old enough to take responsibility for my money better (in theory true, but in fact not, which is why I am changing back to a slightly more sympathetic bank). The customer adviser then tried to sell me their privilege account, where they profit a further £8/9 per month from me for the privilege of an overdraft facility. I politely declined the offer.

I was excited at the prospect of joining a bank where I knew my money would be invested ethically. If I had lots of money to spare (enough to lose a few hundred without even noticing!), then perhaps I wouldn't mind staying with Co-op despite their poor service. Unfortunately, my experience has just been very disappointing.