I've been with the Coop for many years now. The strength is that it is owned by its members, rather than by a bunch of shareholders. It has never been clear to me why anyone would want to put their money with capitalists overtly trying to extract maximum profit from their customers, when you could put it with a mutual enterprise that shares any profits back out to its members. The hope that because capitalist bankers are very very clever at making money, you may get some crumbs of benefit back from their exploits, has surely been pretty well exploded over the last couple of years.
Plus, the Co-op actively canvass customers on policy decisions, such as what sort of businesses to lend (or not to lend) money to.
I haven't really noticed this to be the case to any significant degree with banks, unless you count things like the temptingly high interest rates Icesave was offering shortly before it went bust.
For a concrete counter-example, the former building societies which became private companies have consistently offered worse rates both to savers and to borrowers than those which have remained mutual.
Lloyds have been fairly good for about the last 20 years to me. (They did do me over, by calling in an Overdraft (and refusing a loan), when I told them I was changing jobs (with a 30% pay rise)).
OTOH, they don't appear to offer a true "offset" mortgage, so I may be forced to change myself soon.
I've been with HSBC for about six years with no serious problems afaik. They did abruptly cancel my card at one point, but this as a result of a possible threat (detail leakage?) and they called me up to let me know it was about to happen beforehand. Admittedly I don't have any loans with them, nor do I plan on getting any.
From other people I've heard dubious stories about Lloyds and Natwest of varying nature. Nationwide are apparently utter bastards to have a mortgage with from what I understand. I've read several reports of people being late with a single payment and have NW enact a clause in the contract allowing them to take the property. No opportunity to make good or alter the payment plan, strike one and that's it.
I've also been satisfied with HSBC. A bit timewasting, but their customer service are nice and polite, and do genuinely seem to be trying to help.
One thing I really like is their pro-active fraud measures. They can cancel or freeze your cards, which is especially annoying if overseas, but at least it stops the thieves. They called my mobile "are you in Tottenham Court Rd buying electronics?" quickly enough that thieves who'd cloned my card were caught. I like that.
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Plus, the Co-op actively canvass customers on policy decisions, such as what sort of businesses to lend (or not to lend) money to.
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Because despite this their rates and services are often better!
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For a concrete counter-example, the former building societies which became private companies have consistently offered worse rates both to savers and to borrowers than those which have remained mutual.
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OTOH, they don't appear to offer a true "offset" mortgage, so I may be forced to change myself soon.
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From other people I've heard dubious stories about Lloyds and Natwest of varying nature. Nationwide are apparently utter bastards to have a mortgage with from what I understand. I've read several reports of people being late with a single payment and have NW enact a clause in the contract allowing them to take the property. No opportunity to make good or alter the payment plan, strike one and that's it.
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One thing I really like is their pro-active fraud measures. They can cancel or freeze your cards, which is especially annoying if overseas, but at least it stops the thieves. They called my mobile "are you in Tottenham Court Rd buying electronics?" quickly enough that thieves who'd cloned my card were caught. I like that.
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