I tried to get cash out from the Co Op bank ATM in the Manchester Arndale centre today and got ‘this card is not recognised’ after entering my pin and the amount of money I wanted. I tried again with the ATM next to it and had no luck. I tried with a different company’s ATM and had no issue.
Has anyone else had this?
Do the Co-Op support Mastercards? (Did the machine have the logo on it?)
Co-Op doesn’t accept MasterCard at their ATMs.
That will be why then. I’m trying to find a place on the internet that tells me who takes what but I’m not being very successful.
Unless the Co-Op is a member of the Link network, in which case Link branded MasterCards would work but non-Link MasterCards would not, as the connection is being made using the Link.aim file on the card chip rather than the MasterCard one.
Ohhhhhhhh that explains it then, didn’t even know that was a thing - Mastercard is so widely supported
That’s not really an ‘unless’ - Co-Op takes LINK, but not MasterCard. A card will use both AIDs will work, using the LINK AID. But that doesn’t mean they took MasterCard, they still didn’t - they took LINK.
Yeah, try Japan for major network (Visa and MasterCard) support. It used to be extremely rare, now it’s just rare.
You and I know that but I put the comment before others said “but I used a MasterCard there” 
Fair, though I’d respond ‘no, you didn’t, you used a dual-network card and the transaction went over the LINK network not the MasterCard network’. Pedantic? To some, but important to note given that most MasterCards don’t support LINK (though most UK debit MasterCards do), so it’s better to make that distinction. MasterCards without LINK aren’t an edge case, they’re the norm.
The only card that will always have LINK is American Express. Even US-issued Amex cards also have LINK.
I’m sure I’ve used my Monzo card at a Co-op Bank ATM next to my local Co-op Supermarket’s (but not recently). MasterCards ATM locator also states I can use MasterCards at them.
Interesting, there have been multiple reports on here that they don’t take MasterCard.
I wonder if some do and some don’t. OP, could you check if the one you tried is listed on the MasterCard ATM Locator?
Maybe some Co-op banks have their own brand ATMs and other have an independent one like CashZone? As in the wider Co-operative group some supermarkets have CashZone and other have a different make/model ATM.
I’ve worked it out my confusion @GalaxyMergirl and @anon44204028 .
Co-op Group dropped Co-op Bank ATM’s from its supermarkets and use a third party now. I just didn’t realise until now and I think Co-op Groups branding is on or around the ATMs so I assumed it was still Co-op Bank.
And apart from the Co-op supermarkets that come under the ownership and control of the main Co-op group there are a number of independently owned and operating Co-ops that are not part of the group and negotiate their own arrangements for ATM provision. East of England Co-operative food stores tend to use CashZone but I have been to other Co-ops in Essex and Midlands areas with other ATM providers.
I reported this on day 1 of current account preview and they said they’d have a look, didn’t hear anything further about it. Co op bank in Angel said the card isn’t recognised, then co op store 5 mins away on cally road took it with no problems. I have since found out that the cally Road Co op atm is processed by Barclays, not co-op.
Not sure if this can be extrapolated to say that all co op bank ATMs will reject and all stores will accept… any further experiences with this? 
How rubbish are co op bank though… your own co op stores choosing not to have a co op atm. And not allowing the use of cards that at least a million people in the uk (Monzo/Revolut alone) may wish to use at your atm.
It is not on the list, nope
Okay, that makes sense then. That list should be fairly definitive of where your card works, tho it can be outdated. Especially if you filter by chip support in the US, but that shouldn’t matter much anymore anyway as Monzo now supports magstripe.
P.S. Actually the chip support isn’t even accurate for the UK, I think. I doubt HSBC and NoteMachine are really using the magstripe…
Reported to whom? Monzo can’t do anything about merchants not accepting MasterCard really (only if they’re supposed to but tell you no - like SSP did/does at Liverpool Street). Co-Op has likely made this financial decision. LINK pays better.
That said, whilst I knew Co-Op Bank and Co-Op food are separate companies (and Co-Op Food has a strange ownership structure, where they’re different regional Co-Ops, thus why some don’t do the NUS discount), I’m surprised they don’t support the brand as a whole by trying to use other Co-Op services where possible.
Finally, do Co-Op Bank ATMs take other major global networks (e.g. Maestro, Visa, UnionPay, JCB, Discover/Diner’s Club, etc… Amex doesn’t count since any Amex card also has LINK so it’d be hard to know)? It could be they’re LINK-only.
It always annoyed me that the Co-op in my town did not give the NUS Extra discount but the one in the next town did (because it was owned by the group).
However that has now changed where I live. The East of England Co-operative society now DO accept the NUS Extra card 
Though staff may not be quite sure what to do and my receipt showed “Staff Discount” instead of Student Discount or NUS Discount…not sure if that was supposed to happen.
The promotion is good as while it excludes tobacco it surprisingly does cover wine and lager etc!
Co-Op tends to be expensive in my opinion, so is it really a good value still? 10% off is great, and makes Co-Op tolerable for a quick snack, but I wouldn’t make it my grocery destination - the NUS discount makes it price-competitive with Tesco, sure, but hardly a leader.