I am disgusted to hear of CoOp customers making simple enquiries about this policy of theirs. The self-claimed 'ethical' bank have clearly tricked these customers into revealing their account details, with the sole intention of well and truly shafting them.
Ethical? My backside!!! I would tell them where to stick their subsequent suggestion about applying for a Cashminder. (I accept though, that this is about the only 'free' option currently available for many of us).
I know from bitter experience with First Direct, just how inconvenient and time-consuming it is to find and open a new account. But even they gave me 28 days notice before freezing standing orders, direct debits etc.
For CoOp to freeze your account immediately is diabolical. Not to mention 'rubbing it it' with the 'if you didn't tell us, we would not have found out' comment. (I can just imagine some smug jobsworth in a call centre almost 'enjoying' giving out that information).
With the exception of Cashminder, the lesson for the rest of us CoOp customers seems to be: KEEP QUIET. Don't make enquiries with CoOp about their policy, and make sure you don't go overdrawn or do anything else to cause them to credit check you, or otherwise risk revealing your IVA status.
If you don't fancy living on a knife edge worrying 'what if they find out anyway', take action NOW. Open a Cashminder or a basic account with someone else as a precaution.
My opinions are just that: Based on my experience and being a self-employed IVA customer.
I have to admit i was extremely shocked when they informed us they were going to freeze our direct debits, from my point of view i don't feel there was any need to take this harsh stance ( we had direct debits due out monday so spent the morning calling each relevant department to pay them)
It certainly felt like a kick in the......well you know where however it was a lesson to us that maybe we should have just kept our mouth shut and waited to see what happened!
Unfortunately we don't really have any other avenues to explore as other banks with basic accounts were creditors of ours so if we are refused the cashminder then it looks like we will have to look at fee paying pre paid cards which my husband wanted to do straight away as he is a stubborn old goat and was so angry at the way the co op dealt with us today, however after some coaxing i managed to talk him around and we will try for the cashminder and see what happens.
Just pushing this up again, today we have managed to open an account with the yorkshire building society ( thanks for pointing us in there direction Foggy )its called the cash transactor, its not a 'proper' bank account more a savings with benefits but does allow direct debits/standing orders.
It may not be for everyone as unfortunately it does not come with a debit card just a cash card however as i have already said you can have direct debits and standing orders coming out of the account which was our main priority.
Anyone who has any issues with the Co-operative Bank now they are not allowing current accounts to those of us in IVA's or for any reason they refuse you a cashminder account ( we are still awaiting a decision on this) then i would highly recommend giving this account a thought. The people in our local branch were extremely supportive and caring even offering us tea/coffee to make us more comfortable
good to hear and great of you to let people know - i encourage all members to do like what Cariaqueen has and given names of specific accounts that can help.
Even though the Yorkshire account doesn't come with a debit card, it comes with a card so that you can withdraw cash but more importantly, has Direct Debit functionality.
Managing Director of ClearCash Limited, a general purpose and reloadable prepaid MasterCard facility. Campaigner for the unbanked sector believing that no one should be financially excluded. "Intelligent Money Management"
The bottom line if you have a co-op account and they are not one of your creditors, is no to tell them that your in an IVA and they will not check because they only check the accounts of customers who have debt with them.
Well done to the Yorkshire bank for supporting customers who have experienced financial difficulties, and shame on the other banks who are seeking to withdraw these facilities.
hi all just to say im with nat west and when I went into my iva I didn't have any problems getting a current account but with no overdraft so I had to live on what was left each month which as we all know is a sobering experinece but did have a check book I know this was over 6 years ago but to be fair to them they were brilliant and really helpful and post iva this has not changed thank god.
I have a Smile account and had one prior to entering into IVA. I have never had any problems with this account. However, my question is I made my last IVA payment (6 year term) in April and have been told by GT that I am now in the closure process. Will the Co-Op still view this as an open IVA with regards to my bank account and close it? I am actually cautious to phone them about this in view of other posts about this.
Cariadqueen have you heard from the co-op yet about the cashminder account you applied for? We haven't yet and all of our direct debits are due on the 1st
I rang customer services to pay them by debit card and they need all of the payment details from us in order to pay. Some of these direct debits have been set up for years and it has taken ages to find the information. Our IVA payment hasn't gone through and GT haven't replied to emails (we don't get in from work in time to ring them).
We have opened a cash transactor account with the Yorkshire Building society but not in time to move this months dd's. I naively thought the co-op would cancel the account in September when the terms and conditions are changed otherwise I would have rang them after the dd were due or not at all!
I am so stressed with it all, it seems unfair to change t's &c's when the account is already opened
I am extremely disappointed to read this post, having just changed to the Co op cash minder account from a Lloyds Current account due to them pulling the rug from under People in IVAs feet.
I think i recieved these new t&c but i didnt read them & possibly filled or binned them (had more important matters to deal with!). I am hoping what everyone has said that existing cash minder accounts will be ok, my Husbands work is going to get suspicious of him changing accounts again so soon.
I know our names have dropped off the insolvency register, even credit card applications have started arriving through the post, not seen them for years & I'm certainly not tempted.
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
Hi Mrs Knight - existing account holders do seem to be ok so you should be absolutely fine. Hope all is well with you both
Regards, Tina Shortland, Debt Advisory Manager for Melanie Giles at Debt Advice TV.
If you’re looking for effective debt related information, articles and news, then go now to our on-line advice service at www.debtadvicetv.com
If you’re ready to ask us for specific advice or help, then get in touch at www.call-me.debtadvicetv.com so you can start to free yourself from the stress and anxiety of overwhelming debt.
Morning Tina - thank you for that, I thought that might be the case. Everything settling down here, had a tough 5 months with personal matters, for once not financial ones! Finished paying the IVA 4 months ago & enjoying saving the pennies! X
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
We had our current account with the Co-op closed, however they have opened us a cashminder account. We were told that anyone with a cashminder account would not be affected
