This new offer has a few hoops to jump through to get the full £160.
The Co-operative Bank has brought bank its switching deal. You no longer need to be referred, though there are a few more requirements – and costs – this time around to get the full £160 . There’s also the chance to earn another £114 on top. Here’s how it works.
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How much can you get for switching to Co-op Bank?
This offer is for £100 when you switch, with another £60 available if you continue using the bank. Though that’s a total of £160, you will likely have spent £120 or £135 in bank fees to get the full amount.
However, you will get travel and mobile phone insurance included, and access to a 7% regular saver. If you put the maximum £250 into the account each month there’s another £114 available after a year.
Who can get the Co-op switching offer?
This offer is open to new Co-op Bank current account holders only – it’s fine if you’ve got a different product such as a savings account. You also can’t already have a had a switching bonus from Co-operative Bank since 1 November 2022.
This includes joining via the refer-a-friend offer, but if you’ve only received money for referring others, and not for switching yourself, you can take part.
You can only get one bonus per person, regardless of whether you have more than one solo or any extra joint accounts.
You’ll also only get one payment per joint account, not one each. So if two of you want the cash you’re better off opening two new individual accounts.
What are the requirements for the Co-operative Bank switching offer?
£100 switching bonus
First you’ll need to open or already have this current account:
- Co-operative Bank Everyday Extra account
This is their packaged bank account, which comes with travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and breakdown cover. It’s worth noting that this Everyday Extra account comes with a £15 monthly cost, so it’ll eat into your total return. If you already have a different Co-op current account you are able to upgrade to the Everyday Extra one via online banking.
Last time you could open their standard account, but that’s not the case with this offer.
As with most switching deals, once you’ve opened the new account, you need to use the Current Account Switching Service to move over an account from a different bank. For newbies you’ll do this as part of the application. You need to start it within 10 days of opening the account, and then ensure the switch completes with in six weeks of starting the process.
Then within 30 days of the switch completing you must:
- Complete your switch from a different bank
- Deposit £1,000
- Have two active direct debits or standing orders
- Make at least five debit card payments
- Register for online banking
Note that you can set up the direct debits on the new account, meaning they don’t need to be on the old account before you switch (though any you do switch will count too). Here are some cheap and fast direct debits you can set up if you’re short on them. Or better still, you can set up two standing orders, which can be where you regularly transfer money to another of your own accounts. Set these up for before the 20 of each month if you want to get the second part of the offer.
That £1,000 doesn’t need to stay in the account either, so you can move it out elsewhere straight away if you wish. It also doesn’t need to be in one go, so you can move smaller amounts in and out if that’s easier. Any money moved as part of the switch will also count towards the £1,000.
You can also hack the debit card payments, since paying off a credit card or using it to add money to other accounts in your name (such as Monzo, Revolut, Chip and NS&I – more here in our debit card “spend” hack article).
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£10 bonus for six months
The second lot of cash is actually six monthly lots of £10, and each payment is triggered by use of the current account.
First of all you need to keep using the current account as follows every month:
- payout two direct debits or standing orders
- Make at least five debit card payments
You must do these by the 20 of each month, so make a note in your diary to do these as early in the month as you can.
The first month of this part of the offer begins the month after you get the initial £100 for switching. So if you apply in July and get the cash in August, this six month period doesn’t start until the September.
Remember you’re paying £15 a month for each month you keep this account open, so if that adds up to eight months, you’ll have spent £120 and received £160.
When will the money be paid?
For the £100 switching cash, the Co-operative Bank will pay it into your account within 40 days of the switch completing.
Each extra £10 payment will arrive in your current account at some point in the following month after qualifying.
Use our best buy tables to get the best rate on your savings.
Find out if you can get free cash for switching bank.
When will the offer end?
At the start there’s no end date published. We’ll update here when / if one is announced.
Co-op switching summary
| Switching bonus | £100 |
| Extra bonus | £10 a month for six months |
| Switch Requirements | Open up an Everyday Extra current account at £15 a month |
| Then within 30 days complete the following: | |
| Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close old account | |
| Deposit £1,000 | |
| Set up two direct debits or standing orders | |
| Use the debit card at least 5 times | |
| Set up online banking | |
| Bonus requirements | Make 5 debit card transactions a month for six months |
| Payout 2 direct debits or standing orders every month for six months | |
| Exclusions | Not already have a bonus from Co-operative Bank since 1 November 2022 |
| Offer limited to one welcome offer per person and account | |
| Open to existing customers | No |
| Switch bonus paid | Within 40 days of completing the switch |
| Extra bonus paid | In the following month |
| Offer ends | Unknown |
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Is Co-operative Bank any good?
There are a couple of current accounts that will make you eligible for this offer: the Current Account and the Everyday Extra account.
The Current Account is a standard account that doesn’t do much. Personally I wouldn’t bother as my main account- there are far better reward accounts.
The Everyday Extra account costs £15 a month and comes with insurance policies, though there are cheaper options out there. And that’s if you actually need a packaged account.
There’s also the 7% regular saver to consider, which could earn you £114 in interest over 12 months. However, you don’t need this fee paying account to get access – any of the Co-op current accounts will work.
It’s worth noting that it looks like Co-op Bank will be sold to Coventry Building Society, subject to approval by the regulator.
What do customers think?
Over at our sister site Smart Money People, customers have rated and reviewed the standard Co-operative Current Account, leaving an average score of 4.11 out of 5. However there aren’t specific reviews of the Everyday Extra account.
They like that the bank is more ethical than most other options, but other say the app is limited and customer service not as good as it used to be.
You can read all the reviews here.
Is it worth switching to Co-op?
Andy’s analysis
If you’re switching for the first time you’ll probably find higher paying options out there, and I’d focus on these instead.
Though £160 in total isn’t bad for Co-op offers, you’ll actually end up with far less. The quickest you could do this will be seven months, though I think eight or nine months is more realistic. In each of those months you’ll be paying £15, so really you’re going to be only walking away with £25 or £40.
Yes you will get the insurance for that time, but you might be better off getting separate policies or a different packaged bank account, and waiting for a more straight forward Co-op switch offer to appear- though there’s no guarantee that’ll happen.
Co-operative Bank is regarded as one of the more ethical banks, though Nationwide and Triodos score higher in ratings from Ethical Consumer magazine.
Are there better switching offers?
If you’re a repeat switcher and aren’t planning to keep an account then this is one of the best. But if you plan to just switch once I’d actually look at other options which have added rewards or cashback.
These come and go, so here’s everything you need to know about all these and other different bank switching deals.
I appreciate the Co-op Bank has this fluffy ethical reputation which is noble in the modern world I suppose but it’s an absolutely rubbish operation for numerous reasons. I took advantage of their switching incentive earlier this year but the only reason that I’m keeping the account going with a couple active direct debits is so I have something at the ready for the next switching offer that comes along. The app is absolutely useless, like something from medieval times, and I’ve waited over 2 hours to speak to someone after relentlessly putting blocks on my account for security reasons whenever I’ve been shifting dough to another account of mine. My advice is farm the switching incentive by all means but don’t even bother contemplating from switching from your everyday primary current account.
Well, you can just open the account, get £100 and then close it, or you can’t do it?
I think there’s a new switch offer available now, just after ending the previous one.
This time, Co-op is offering £100 plus a £60 bonus. Could you please have a look at this link and share your thoughts?
https://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/products/bank-accounts/switch-offer/
Biggest faff ever. Had to telephone to setup mobile banking, telephone again to set up debit card and then telephone their fraud prevention team the first time I tried to move money out of the account to another in my name. Every time left hanging on the phone because of high call volumes. I don’t think I can put up with 5 months of this so may just forfeit the second £75.
Co-operative bank, don’t launch any offer if you cannot handle the amount of switch request!
I applied for the switch using their weird Adobe sign form. Waited for2 weeks, no news. Sent a message to the help and support. They “aim to respond within 48 hours”. Only heard back from them 5 days later. Unable to read the message from the mobile banking app, only able to do that using online banking. IT IS 2024, I cannot belive this nonsense.
Help and support team let me know they have issues processing switch. Did not advise me on my switch progress. They advise me to re-apply. The deadline for the offer has passed.
Overall very poor experience.
I was going start the new Coop switch offer today, and was given the earliest switch completion date of 4th July, even know they are part of the 7 day switch guarantee,they said because I am new customer and they need to set up my application this is how long it will take to complete, is this correct or should I be taking this further? To me regardless if you a new or existing customer it should take 7 days!
What you’ve missed is that (1) opening a new account and (2) switching between accounts are two separate processes (even if you request a switch whilst opening a new account). The switching process cannot be started until you have an account into which to switch. Opening this account takes as long as the bank involved deems necessary. Once this account is open, the switching process can be started, and this process always takes 7 days – that’s the 7 day switch guarantee.
Can you get this if you have got a “refer a friend” bonus in 2023? Maybe the person who refers can if not a current customer anymore?
I have just done this using a refferral from my brother. Could I now refer my wife using a joint account with my name on it also? It does allow for joint account switching, after a form is filled in. But t&c’s just aren’t very clear on my conundrum. Thanks in advance
If someone refers you how long does it take before you get £125? Also does this offer have an end date?
Opening a cashminder account and then switching my partners current account got us the 125 each after filling in refer a friend form. Offer over now but hopefully this helps people out if it comes back up 🙂
Earliest date for a switch to be completed is now 23 March, making it too late to claim the Referral Bonus. How annoying
Hard to believe that I opened an account on 11th December and was informed (online by the Coop) that the switch couldn’t go through until 2nd January 2023. Offer now closing on 16th and 14 days within which to confirm the switch. A little annoying, and to me unfair, that they were still advertising this offer without an end date, knowing I couldn’t meet their deadline. Also astonished that the 7 day switching process is taking 22 days (even allowing for bank holidays). Not a good first impression.
You can fill in the form once you have the account details, even if the switch hasn’t been completed
Thanks. It does state the word ‘after'(see below) in their T&C’s. I hope you’re correct, but it is rather misleading.
‘So you can both get your £125 payment, make sure they first follow the steps to qualify for the offer, and after the switch is complete that they remember to complete the referral form.’
This has now been added to the Co-op’s website – ‘Your friend fully completes a current account switch from another bank, and we receive their completed referral form by 20 January 2023.’
Thanks Chris
Unfortunately I don’t know anyone with a Coop bank account. Would there be anything stopping me from opening a new Coop current account and then immediately referring my wife? If she then switched her current account from another bank into Coop would we both get £125?
I’d like to know the answer to this as well please! Can anyone help?
I’m going to give this a go, nothing on terms and cons to suggest it wouldn’t work. I’ll post a reply on here if I have any joy
Hi Phil,
Did this work?