Banking....

NB: Some of this might be too UK specific for some members

Hi everyone

Maybe a common issue - but when we started out we had money coming in that we needed to deposit right now, in order to operate. Additionally, we had a few hoops to jump through to become a co-operative (on paper, we always had the spirit). The end result for us was that banking with the Co-operative Bank in the UK wasn't a quick option - it seemed to take weeks for the bank to tell us that they would take more weeks to even get to a decision point. So - we opened an account elsewhere (which still wasn't without pain).

We're now at a point where we wish to Move our Money (as in http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/) to a better home. Straightforward? Nope*. Here's some responses we've had:

• "You've got nine directors? But who owns the company??" -- "We all do, we're a co-operative" --- "Oh, you're the Co-op". Sigh

• Our work in open data and transparency is deemed "high risk"

• Banks generally just seem to be rubbish (imho)

We will try and talk further to the Co-op bank, but I'd be interested in any thoughts from members ....

*We understand that moving corporate funds should not - quite rightly - be that easy!

We currently have a co-op bank account as our "current" account and Triodos account for reserves. In all honesty we'd like to leave the co-op but it's free, currently, and while I don't believe so much in their ethics anymore it is difficult to find someone else with any ethics that will give us the level of reporting and integration into our accounts systems that we need...

I'd suggest Triodos and Unity Trust.

We initially tried to open an account with Unity Trust, but the application process took too long (sending in a paper application, didn't hear back for weeks) so we went to Metro Bank (scores considerably higher than the Coop Bank on Move Your Money and has local branches) and opened an account in an hour or so. Customer service was great too and they also allow dogs in their branches 😃 .

@simonball different experience with Metro Bank here - see quotes above. It's a month since we first made contact with them

I don't think we have a dog between us. Maybe that is a key factor?!

to be fair we just walked into a branch and opened it. Took in the company formation documents, proof of address/identity etc of all directors and they took it from there.

I think we threw them, with our nine directors, and no office (or dog)

http://www.cybusinessonline.co.uk/

For Gildedsplinters.

Was the only bank that answered 'yes we do coops' on 1st call and didn't automatically assume that 'coop' meant 'not for profit' as had all the others we approached.

Signup was straightforward, documentation too. Have international if needed. Phone people great.

Stick with the Co-op: we can make something out of it. Some of us (me, Ethical Consumer Magazine, others) have been working hard on the Save Our Bank campaign http://saveourbank.coop - and we have now formed the (world's first?) customer union having raised £30k on crowdfunder.

With 10,000 supporters and 1,500 paid up members of the Customer Union for Ethical Banking (a co-op itself) we wield some real influence in the Co-op Bank (more than we did as members of the Group) and we can even start the process of 'reversing' a co-op into the bank.

Interesting. Knowing this might have shifted our views on who we banked with. Did talk with the Co-op first but seemed to offer no advantage to us as a co-op - material or principle - and lots of procedural friction, so in the end we did what all consumers do - went with the easy option

Well Co-op Bank does have special deal for Co-ops. If they told you otherwise this was wrong. Supporting Co-ops also written explicitly into their Ethical Policy (which we influenced). What's more they've funded The Hive co-op peer-to-peer support network run by Coops UK with £1m: no sign of that sort of support from the Group. It's impressive sign of their determination to stay linked with the movement, even though they are now 80% in private hands. As I say - we have more influence over them now as an organised group of customers than Group members ever had when it was 100% in Group hands.

Opening accounts with Co-op can be tedious. But this is a general problem now with money-laundering and extreme risk aversion - not just the Co-op. BDX went (for internal reasons) with Barclays. They struggled with our co-op status and the ownership question and took weeks to open the account.

Indeed Shaun, we did discover that 'Co-op Bank does have special deal for Co-ops' after we'd gone with Y&C (I'd asked the question of Co-op Bank three times!)

Ah, usual Co-op efficiency then! I'll feed that back (anonymised).

Co-op bank told us that they didn't offer anything for co-ops- I asked twice.

On a related question - how do people spread their money especially in light of the protection limits on banks going under...? We live in uncertain times and I keep reading about the potential for, especially the co-op, to fail.

We've got two banks but are carrying anything from 50k - 250k in them each at times. Really we should have loads to be protected but the admin would be a hassle...

I work in admin for 2 organisations, I'm familiar with Co-op bank and Unity Trust - chosen for ethical reasons. Really interested to hear about http://saveourbank.coop/

Both take ages to set up an account, just got to plough through that.

Otherwise I'd recommend Unity Trust, for 2 reasons. Their customer service phone help is great. Secondly their system for making bank transfer allowing 2 (or more) "signatories" to authorise the payments works well. I don't believe the Co-op bank offers this.

We've tried to open an bank account with Co-op Bank ( reasonable ethics, free banking for 18 months), but after not hearing back anything about our application for ages we called and were informed our application was turned down. They wouldn't tell us why on phone but said it'll be in a letter we'll get at some point...

Based on positive experience of We Are Open Co-op with Metro Bank (and their good rating and customer service etc) we'll be trying them next.

I also like Unity Trust for ethics, but pretty much everyone I've recommend try them out have come back telling me Unity Trust wouldn't have them :-/

In the future https://monzo.com/ might be worth looking at but they are starting with personal not business accounts...

Co-op Bank = Dunderheads

I struggle to understand this organisation. They seem to do pretty much all they can to alienate what I'd say would be a core customer base (forcefully closing the accounts of campaigning NGOs working in the Middle East, etc., not recognising cooperatives as customers worth having, etc.).

Even more frustrating when in truth cooperatives are included in their 'Community Directplus account'. At least that's what they called it when it as launched: I was involved in getting it set up during my time at Cooperatives UK.

As a cooperator I want to help them to be better. As a consumer I want to walk away.

Does appear that societies are indeed still included in that, see http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/business/currentaccounts/eligibility-criteria

@graham2 and @josefdaviescoates are right. The Co-op Bank absolutely does offer a deal for co-ops, however many times the dunderheads tell you otherwise.

I have put so many hours into SaveOurBank.coop - sometimes I wonder why, if they can't even sort something simple like this.

As mentioned I will certainly feed this experience (anonymised) back to the bank.

Co-op Bank just unilaterally moved Community & Coop Finance / ICOF's account from the community & coops section to mainstream business banking, without explanation, after 40 years. CCF none too pleased and said their relationship manager basically shrugged his shoulders.

Thanks @shaunfensom - my assumption is that this is essentially a staff training issue. Their front line people simply don't have the product knowledge they need to do their job properly.

@graham2 Yes, that is the problem. The staff are fairly supportive of the bank seems to me. Very strongly unionised too, which is good.

Two other suggestions: We have a savings account with Triodos - lovely folk.
And - possibly slightly leftfield / early days - but has anyone considered a Credit Union? Not sure what's around in England but one of the larger ones might offer suitable services, and they are keen to move into business banking now they are allowed. So it is an option ... We are keeping a watching brief on them here and are considering moving our reserves to a local CU, at least.

Hi all - thanks for sharing. Really great co-operation

Metrobank still haven't got back to us, despite promising to do so 10 days ago. Disappointing. I'm convinced it due to us not having a dog.

@louisescott suggestion of a Credit Union is really interesting. Would be good to know if anyone has done this

Wondering if anyone has considered using a cryptocurrency. Avoid banks by decentralising. The obvious currency to go with would be FairCoin, managed and promoted by the Fair Cooperative https://fair.coop
They are about to launch FairCoin2 which works without miners and is based on 'Proof of Cooperation'.

Asking around about Credit Unions - will report back in due course!