Our service quality information
The Financial Conduct Authority requires us to publish the following information about our personal current accounts.
The first table displays how you can speak to us about the services we offer. The second table displays how you can make use of our services.
The Financial Conduct Authority requires us to publish the following information about our personal current accounts:
How and when you can contact us to ask about the following things:
| 24 hour help? | Telephone banking | Internet banking | Mobile banking | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact details | Not applicable | +44(0)3457 212 212 | smile.co.uk | smile mobile banking app |
| Checking the balance and accessing a transaction history | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Sending money within the UK, including setting up a standing order | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Sending money outside the UK | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Paying in a cheque | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Cancelling a cheque | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Cash withdrawal in a foreign currency outside the UK | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| A lack of funds: including unarranged overdrafts, payments we allow despite lack of funds and payments we refuse due to lack of funds | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| A Direct Debit, or allowing someone to collect one of more payments from your account using your debit card number | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Third party access to an account, for example under a Power of Attorney | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Problems using internet banking or mobile banking | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Reporting a suspected fraudulent incident or transaction | Yes | 24 hours | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Progress following an account suspension or card cancellation, e.g. following a fraud incident | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Account opening: including eligibility for an arranged overdraft, what is required to open an account and an indication of what arranged overdraft may be available | No | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
Note: This is a list of common queries. It does not represent the full list of queries you can raise in relation to your account, or queries you can raise in one of our branches.
How and when you can use your bank account to do the following things:
| Telephone banking | Internet banking | Mobile banking | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checking the balance | 24 hours | 24 hours | 24 hours |
| Accessing a transaction history | Not Possible | 24 hours | 24 hours |
| Sending money within the UK | Not Possible | 24 hours | 24 hours |
| Setting up a standing order | Not Possible | 24 hours | Not Possible |
| Sending money outside the UK | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Paying in a cheque | Not Possible | Not Possible | Not Possible |
| Cancelling a cheque | 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday. 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday | Not Possible | Not Possible |
Note: This is a list of common actions. It does not represent the full list of actions you can take in relation to your account, or actions you can take in one of our branches.
Information about operational and security incidents
We are obliged to notify the Financial Conduct Authority if we become aware of a major operational or security incident which prevents our customers from using our payment services.
| In the 3 months between 1 October 2023 and 31 December 2023 | In the 12 months between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total number of incidents reported | 0 | 2 |
| Incidents affecting telephone banking | 0 | 0 |
| Incidents affecting mobile banking | 0 | 2 |
| Incidents affecting internet banking | 0 | 1 |
Please note: The number of incidents shown affecting telephone, mobile and internet banking may not add up to the total number of incidents reported to the Financial Conduct Authority. This is because an incident may not affect any of or all of our services.
Complaints Data
Financial Conduct Authority rules require us to provide them with a report of our complaints data every six months. In certain circumstances, we are also required to publish a summary of our complaints data.
The most recent summary is available at The Co-operative Bank website.
The Financial Ombudsman Service publishes its complaints data every six months. You can see their complaints data about us at www.ombudsman-complaints-data.org.uk/
What is the interest rate being charged on our products?
| Product | Annual interest rates payable for arranged overdrafts on 31 December 2023 | Annual interest rates payable for unarranged overdrafts on 31 December 2023 | Refused payment fee on 31 December 2023 |
| Current Account | 35.9% | 35.9% | £0 |
| Smilemore | 35.9% | 35.9% | £0 |
Smilemore has an automatic £260 interest free overdraft amount. You will be charged debit interest at an annual interest rate of 35.9% when you enter an arranged or unarranged overdraft above your interest free amount.
How do our overdrafts compare?
A good way to compare the cost of our overdraft with other overdrafts or other ways of borrowing is to look at the APR. The APR shows the cost of borrowing over a year.
Information about overdraft pricing in the 3 months between 1 October 2023 and 31 December 2023
| Product | Advertised APRs during the quarter |
|---|
| Current Account | 35.9% Representative APR |
Opening a current account with us
Go to our current account page to find out how you can open an account and what information and documents you need to give us to open an account.
How quickly do we open personal current accounts?
We give customers an account number and enable them to start paying into the account:
- the same day, for 0% of customers
- on average, in 14 days; and
- within 57 days for 99% of customers
These figures are based on the time taken from when a customer has applied for an account, to when they receive their new account details; allowing them to make a deposit.
These figures also include the time where we are waiting for some customers to return the information and documents we ask for. It does not include applications where we need additional information or documents from the customer to open the account.
How quickly do we give customers a debit card?
Once an account is open, we give customers a debit card:
- the same day, for 0% of customers
- on average, in 4 days; and
- within 6 days for 99% of customers
How quickly do customers get internet banking?
Once an account is open, customers have internet banking:
- the same day, for 100% of customers
- on average, in 0 days; and
- within 0 days for 99% of customers
You can register for internet banking once your account is open.
How quickly is an overdraft available?
Once an account is open, the overdraft is available:
- the same day, for 100% of customers
- on average, in 0 days; and
- within 0 days for 99% of customers
If you apply for an account and we agree to open it, the overdraft will be available as soon as your account is open.
Replacing a debit card
How quickly do we replace debit cards which have been lost, stolen or stopped?
We replace debit cards:
- the same day, for 0% of customers
- on average, in 4 days; and
- within 6 days for 99% of customers
How to open a current account
To open our current account, a new customer will need to provide us with a list of information and documents. We may request additional information or documents in individual cases.
| You can open an account | |
|---|---|
| Without visiting a branch | Yes |
| Where a visit to a branch is required, without an appointment | No* |
| By sending us documents and information electronically | No |
| By post | No |
* It isn't possible to apply for a smile current account in branch.
Find out more about the ways we can support our personal current account customers on our supporting the needs of all of our customers page.
Open Banking service
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires us to publish the service quality levels we have with third party providers for our open banking platform. It evaluates how well we are delivering security and access for you to share your data and make payments through other providers.
So you are able to make an informed decision about joining our open banking program or evaluate how we are performing, please review our service quality statistics.
The Co-operative Bank and smile are trading names of The Co-operative Bank p.l.c. We offer Open Banking functionality for both these brands.