The Co-Op bank - should I stay or should I go?

[isitsnowingyet]

Just wondered what others thought about this. How stable is the Co op after all the problems with Paul Flowers etc this week, and customers leaving in droves (?). We have our mortgage with them, and I just hope it's safe also DH's current account.

Any opinions of those in the know would help, thanks.

The Co-op is regulated by the FSA which, even if they are crap at selecting chairmen, means that your deposits are protected (up to a limit) if they did go to the wall. However, if a lot of people are jumping ship, you could get a Northern Rock type run and it may be wise for you DH to at least have an alternative current account. I had money with an Iceland bank in 2008 and, even though I got full FSA compensation, it took some time before I had access to my savings again.

Thanks for that. I think I'll look further into some alternatives.

I am leaving my stuff in the coop because I be;lieve int heir principles and I know that my money is protected by the FSA.

the only problem I have is that I am now unsure as to their ethical stance

in one report it said that it would stay

and then on radio 4 I heard that with the new backers, profit would be prime and ethical investments secondary

so if anyone knows about that - I would be super chuffed

The trouble is there aren't many good ethical alternatives ... I think they want to keep "the Co-op" in the title so they will want to look good on the ethical front.

Your mortgage is safe, not much can go wrong there. The only real problem would be if you are on a fixed rate which is ending soon - then you would be exposed to whatever the Co-op sets as their SVR. Most banks have to keep the SVR pretty competitive, else people re-mortgage elsewhere, but after the N Rock failure, N Rock's SVR was really high even when all other banks were slashing theirs.

Current account - well you presumably don't keep much mioney in that, so it's not really going to be a risk.

I don't think the Chairman's flaws on a personal level are relevant to the organisation as a whole. I'd say it's safe.

I'm staying for the moment but I'm pretty annoyed that those at the top managed to fuck up a nice ethical bank for no real reason. I have had to take my credit card elsewhere as they were rejecting any remote payment over £100 on ours and we had to go through a massive faff of phoning up and then redoing the payments all this despite paying the card off each month.

Hi - we have banked with the Co-op for over 30 years, and up until a couple of years ago had nothing but praise for its customer service and reliability etc, and haven't until considered looking elsewhere - I hope they realise that they may be losing good customers over all this scandal as people have started to lose confidence.

We recently moved from Manchester area where service was excellent to a city in the south where the Co-op is located in a branch of Britannia. The service is appalling and the facilities are rubbish. I have complained to the Co-op several times about this ( ie the branch couldn't find the phone number of of local branch and their cba attitude permeated all our dealings with them.). Dont use that branch anymore, but we will watch and wait, eyeing up the Nationwide as we speak!!!

the guardian has done a great piece on this i like the look of the reliance bank the reliance bank is linked to the sally army, i have a lot of time for the sally

there are two seperate links links there btw

I am keeping

• my personal
• my company
• my employers

money with the co-op for now

The failings with Paul Flowers are that the regulators ever EVER signed off his appointment.
The utter jerk who did not check him out is probably still drawing a jammy salary within the "regulatory" bodies.
While the enquiries and investigations are ongoing, NO POLITICIAN OR REGULATOR is going to allow the Co-op to topple over.

On a longer term its really really tricky because there are no other ethical business accounts
Unity Bank is part owned by the Co-op
Reliance is fine for those happy to bank with a religious group
Nationwide is an option for personal accounts

Sadly we have to rely on the Hedge Funds being happy to sort out the business practices and leave the ethics alone.

Its a nightmare.

I was about to post the same question after reading this worrying article in the Observer today (key part 4th paragraph down and lower).
On reflection I think I will move savings to nationwide but keep current account with smile - but its worrying.
www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/23/labour-faces-co-op-cash-crisis?guni=Keyword:news-grid%20main-1%20Main%20trailblock:Editable%20trailblock%20-%20news:Position1

If you're looking for an ethical bank then Triodos is highly ethical. Uk base is in Bristol. Not sure you'll get much service though - still uses paper & royal mail.

redmap
The story in the Observer is a tad disingenuous.
Because of work I have contacts at reasonable levels within the bank.
They have decided to concentrate on small businesses (under £25m) and smaller organisations so the local authority team is being shut down - THAT is why the LAs are pulling out, not due to risk profiling.

argy
triodos are indeed very sweet, but utterly impractical for local authorities, charities and companies