The Co-operative Bank chat

Financial Chat
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Some people’s wages haven’t been paid into their Co-op/Smile accounts this month…

(If we already have a general chat thread for co-op, apologies. I did search for one, honest.)

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I don’t think we have a thread for them - not sure why anyone would bank with what must be the worst bank in the UK.

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I had a 125 reasons :smile:

Now leaving for another incentive :money_mouth_face:

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But these seem to be people who actually use Co-op. And that’s what I don’t understand.

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Yeah, I took an instant dislike to them when I had to answer twenty questions when trying to move my swith incentive from my brand new Co-op account, to my account at Monzo - both in my own exact same name!!

I had to admit during that phone interogation that I realised that if I proceeded with the transfer to my own account, I would not be able to claim it back from Co-op. Why would I? It would be sat in my own account elsewhere :person_shrugging: :man_facepalming:

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For some people it’s their ethics. My elderly friend has an account with them. She doesn’t use online banking and hasn’t noticed any of the problems they’ve recently had. Always had good customer service too.

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I suspect the same for typical coop customers as with FD. They think what they have is great because they’ve never seen how much better it could be.

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Or maybe people have different needs? I have used Monzo but it just wasn’t for me. Yes, it has a lot of features but the vast majority are useless to me because they don’t work with how I manage my money. I am perfectly happy with the simplicity that the likes of Santander, Nationwide, and First Direct have.

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I was thinking yesterday how basic these three are in a way, but how effective that actually is.

It spurred on from thoughts of why do I even care if my Aldi shop was tagged as groceries or general.

Then I asked other half about how he manages his Trends and he said “Trends what? I don’t care for that.”

I was less financially anxious when these things weren’t at the top of my mind ie having Nationwide for years until Starling came along.

Crazy eh.

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I’m probably in this category myself… I don’t use many of Monzo’s features but even so

Payments -

  • instant notifications
  • mostly free to use abroad
  • can see recurring card payments in scheduled payments tab
  • can see incoming BACS / outgoing direct debits a working day ahead
  • shared tabs and bill splits often useful

The app -

  • quick and easy to use
  • no silly passwords, telephone passwords, memorable words, card reader devices, etc
  • easy search across all transactions with no nonsense about trying to remember which statement month you need to look at
  • quick glance “left to spend” figure

So even though I’m not bothered about pots, trends, connected accounts, flex, etc and I’m just after a simple bank account, I still feel that monzo is up there with the best. The obvious weakness for Monzo is their handling of cash and cheques.

I’m often tempted by starling but their merchant data seems more of a mess than monzos, and I don’t know whether there’s more trouble ahead from the covid loans.

Chase would be ok but they still divide transaction history into statement periods, which is unhelpful.

And both options would mean shared payments with monzo friends would be extra hassle.

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True, it changes about a lot, sometimes has a Tesco logo, sometimes not :joy:

Chase lets you tap All activity on Home Screen, and then a search for what seems like 6 months (Feb to July for me, or 2000 entries). I have about 20 entries over that period.

The app needs dark mode for me, and the notifications need to be a little quicker for my liking.

100%.

Chase doesn’t have any kind of split bill. Starling tries but it’s a mess if you’re not a Starling customer it’s an online card payment Apple/Google wallet, or bank transfer.

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Chase sound great with their offering, but JP Morgan are bottom of the table in lending for new oil and gas. I just can’t go there. Still considering coop credit card to support at least the ones who are trying. Can kind of forgive the poor tech when they’re competing against mammoths like chase, Barclays etc.

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I think this is the thing though. Both coop and Tridos seem to be ethical first. And that’s great.

I would love for them to be my bank. But I can’t forgive their complete lack of technical advancement. It’s 2023.

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I get that. But I wonder if the ethical stance makes it harder for them to have the money to spend on the tech?

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Especially when they could buy better tech off the shelf from, say, Starling. Best of both worlds.

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Been a coop customer for 2 years. Made over a thousand from referrals and they facilitated a large payment over the phone that RBS would not at the time. Now the account is redundant as I’ve moved to a joint Revolut account. Will switch away once a joint mandate is processed for £125. Credit card I will keep for DD requirements.

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18

I saw someone actually pay with a Smile debit card yesterday. They’re rarer than most other bank cards.

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Still have one for the joint account. They swipe it when I pay a cheque in at the Co-op bank branch in town. That’s all the exercise it gets these days.

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Well, my switch away from Coop went smoothly, although my Coop app seems to still be fully functional atm :man_shrugging::joy:

Perhaps it may change tomorrow :thinking:

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