COOP Bank

i can vouch for them, proper phone banking, get everything done in seconds.
easy as.
no complaints whatsoever. does exactly what it says on the tin.
 
I'll happily plug the co-op - been with them for about 12 years after an unhappy spell with natwest (boohiss) and not only are they a bit more ethical (its all relative) but their telephone banking makes life a lot easier.

Got a mortage with them 2.5 years ago as well - figured if I was paying back a lot of cash over 25 yrs - might as well go to something not quite as nasty as the other high st banks.
 
Yep...been with the Co-Op for the last 15years, or so....Joined them cos of the ethical stance, but I'm always pleasantly surprised by their good customer service, too...
Charges, though, are on the high side...
 
Oh dear - hate to burst your :party2: BUT - about 2 years back there was a really dreadful article about the CoOPs investment portfolio - guns, offence companies, and other such stuff - absolutely shocking - I think Campaign Against the Arms Trade may publish this sort of info, and they certainly publish a report everyyear about investments made by banks etc. So I would check it out - ESPECIALLY as COOP are supposed to be ethical investors

I have a friend who is writing a PhD on ethical investment and there is a new organisation set up in the last year called the Charity Bank - they lend to companies who are ethical and that's how they invest - don't know whether they are interested in small investors but u could check out their website...

Also, I might as well plug Corporate Watch who have very good website and plenty of reports on what companies do (RAFI are good too)

Have a nice day....
Meijin
 
Meijin said:
Oh dear - hate to burst your :party2: BUT - about 2 years back there was a really dreadful article about the CoOPs investment portfolio - guns, offence companies, and other such stuff - absolutely shocking - I think Campaign Against the Arms Trade may
Click to expand...

Links/references, please....Cos I can't find anything on this!!
 
Meijin said:
Oh dear - hate to burst your :party2: BUT - about 2 years back there was a really dreadful article about the CoOPs investment portfolio ...
Meijin
Click to expand...

I think i put in my posting that they were a "bit" more thical - its all relative when it comes down to any high st bank - short of setting up your own credit union - which may not be bad thing - you can only ever go for the lesser fo two evils & make your opinions known - no major bank will ever be completly ethical.

Any suggestions for more ethical high st banks anyone?

(who do you bank with Meijin - any top tips?)
 
The problem with the Cooperative Bank is it can be as ethical as it likes, but as a number of other companies in the group are not bound by the same self-awarded title they are free to invest in whatever the hell they like. It's remarkably easy to move money between group companies.

A quick google though and the only thing I could find was this
http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/newslet/news0699/story10.htm

Oh yeah, and in relation to arms the cooperative banks own ethical investement statement is very careful only to mention "companies that ship arms to oppressive regimes"...read into that what you will.

Still, like John M said ethics in banking is all reletive - I'm sure there are far worse places to have your money.
 
Nice to hear some contrary opinions, but as there's not been any info posted about co-ops negative activities, I'm happier with my money being with them than when it was at lloyds.

A publicly stated ethical policy has got to be better than nothing, which is what lloyds had to offer, and I don't fancy having to stress about where an atm is nearby because i've moved my money to tinpot bank, run by three hippies in a field, with no internet banking service.

I guess i'm not perfect, but I'm happy :sun:

Andrew
 
Yes, thank you John M, credit unions ARE useful - there's one in my hood (and I think John Hulme of the centrist party DLP in N.I. set a good one up over there in the '70s - his earlier claim to fame before his Nobel prize)...

Charity Bank - I'll ask my pal 4 an address/website

www.corporatewatch.org (I should think) - campaign against the arms trade (CAT - I think is the anacronym they use so try www.cat.org.uk)

re. the article about COOP - I think 'The Guardian' as I say a year or two back so it might be on the website database of articles (perhaps under banking altho' it was a general news article) - I'm not near my computer so I can't really check at present..

But I'll ask my pal (like we don't talk about things like this of course....) who he recomends at present...

Me? I bank with the Bank of India (just joking)

Happiness? It can't be bought.... and you're so right Andrew - what the hell can 3 hippies in a field achieve?
 
well mejin, I'd love to hear more about the charity bank, a link would be useful...

and I'm just the sort of guy that after spending two month process of transferring my cash from lloyds to co-op would then go on another journey to change it all again, if I had proof in my hands that co-op were evil ..

I've just had a quick scan through the friends of the earth article mentioned above, and realised that my efforts to green up my money, while well intentioned, may be still off the mark. I'm really not into arms exporting at all, which it says the co-op's group members engage in, which puts me off em a bit. It also mentions co-ops lack of a GM policy which doesn't bother me so much, although this will probably incense some people, I don't think that all genetic modification is evil. Science is employed in this case to make our food grow bigger and last longer(as opposed to making bombs to blow people up), so i don't think you can say it's a black and white issue like you can with the arms race.

the article says that semi ethical banks like co-op are profiting out of the good intentions of people who think they're a fully ethical bank .. i'd love to hear more about these fully ethical banks :-)

Cheers

Andrew
 
Hi Andrew

I was gonna pop in anyway and say I'm sorry if I was rather accusatory towards your attempts to be kinder with your cash, but as you probably don't know, cos you weren't there when I read the article in my kitchen a year or so back, I was really unhappy when I read what investment portfolio COOP apparently had...after all, they have been calling themselves 'ethical investors' for years and indeed when I moved to where I am now - a good decade ago, I tried to open an account with them but there wasn't one near me - so I am like you...

However, I knew in the back of my mind when online about this that there were other banks - and my friend kindly reminded me last night about Triodos Bank - they are ethical investors who do personal banking too - not like charity bank i think - anyway google them -

I don't know why I didn't think of them earlier - after all they used to heavily flier drop 'The Ecologist' magazine (which I don't read so much at the moment because I am busy doing other stuff. Incidentally, The Ecologist has a good website for contacts on all sorts of environmental matters...

Hope I didn't bring you down, apologies if I did - I am a nice person really as my friend who has just returned to Australia who I have just worked closely with for the last 2 years emailed me to tell me - she misses me - which is nice to know. So positive constructive criticism/help 4 you today.

Re. Triodos - have a look and let me know if you think they cut the mustard

(But a gm thread might be more contentious if that gets going....)

Yours naturally
Meijin

PS. I will check out charity bank webaddress (altho' I don't think they do personal banking) and THAT article - might take a bit of time so bear with me...
 
was about to setup an account with coop today, your a live save dude, i would hate to be giving money to arms dealers......bah!

cheers man :D

glad i setup this section now :)
 
Mike, but who do/will you bank with instead?

Non of the big high street banks are anwhere near as concerned about their ethical stance as the Co-Op are....

Nothing is perfect, by any means, when banking and corporate money is involved, but the Co-Op at least recognise that ethical issues are of a concern...That is more than (say) Barclays do...

What Andrew has said is correct...I already have issues with the lack of branches that the Co-Op have. Any more niche bank and you might as well bank off-shore!

As for the Guardian (a paper I choose to read, btw) I can't find the article from a quick search on-line and in any case would take with a pinch of salt any unsubstantiated "investigative" journalism!

Until someone proposes a viable alternative, I shall stick with the "Ethical Bank"

I have, though, just switched electricity suppliers to a green energy company...
 
Yo Julz

Don't even think Barclays - remember only 10 years ago those *******s were in SA and only toned it down towards the end of the regime.

But the lack of branches may not always be a problem - some 'banks' can do deals with the few genuine building societies left (who ARE often local) - so you can have a card etc...

I remember my elderly relative had a bank account with the Bank of Ireland (who have a branch in my area) and had one with them because they are like SwiSS banks in that they wont (or wouldn't) give the account holders details to anyone - we know who IRS - and therefore were confidentially yours...so a different sort of ethics :wub: the cheques were legal tenders in UK but they would always check it out with staffleader in supermarket..."Judeeee!! Is this legal? etc...."
"Yes"
So just the wait - but I like the confidentiality bit altho' these days we have no rights...moan...culture of fear etc...
 
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