Finance Choices
Smile Current Account
The Smile Current Account
A lot of banks bang on about being different, but chest puffing apart, few actually live up to the claim. But at smile, they really can say it with conviction.
For starters, they've got a resident astrologer, Astro Anne (who had a feeling you'd be reading this now). And apparently she has already made her predictions of how the stars will affect you and your money this month.
So if you want to see if you should splash out on that fantastic top you've had your beady eye on, or throw caution to the wind and head off to New York for a weekend of shopping and partying, then check out her horoscope page. And if she's urging a bit of caution, there's no need to panic. Smile have loads of ways to make hard-earned cash stretch further.
Fuss-free options
Take their rather splendid current account for instance. It pays 3.04% AER on every single penny you have, which is around 30 times more interest than the high street banks. They also give you an automatic £500 overdraft too, at a generously low rate of just 9.9% EAR and free from tiresome arrangement fees.
Then there's their Visa card. Their standard rate is just 9.9% p.a. for current account holders, and 10.5% p.a. for everyone else, and they pay 0.5% cashback on all your purchases. Plus they've promised never to charge an annual fee. Can't be bad.
All this aside, the really refreshing thing about smile is that when you get an email from smile or talk to them on the phone, you are treated in a pleasant everyday fashion, there's none of the usual 'starchiness' associated with the banking industry.
You can access your account 24/7 either online or over the phone - their friendly staff are always available to help deal with any of your issues - relationship problems apart!
The ethical choice
But the icing on the cake is that they don't behave like a bank at all. They pride themselves on their ethical investment policy, which simply means they will not invest in organisations involved in anything from arms trading to genetic modification, or anyone who has less-than-perfect records on human or animal rights. So you're safe in the knowledge that your money isn't playing dirty.
Smile ensure that they do everything they can as an organisation to be as ecologically friendly as possible. The building they work in, for example, is even run on poo. To be more scientific, it's actually run on methane, a by-product of digested sewage, kindly 'donated' by the people of Bournemouth. But as proud as they are of this green credential, few members of staff are keen to know exactly how it works.
Summary
A lot of banks bang on about being different, but chest puffing apart, few actually live up to the claim. But at smile, they really can say it with conviction.
For starters, they've got a resident astrologer, Astro Anne (who had a feeling you'd be reading this now). And apparently she has already made her predictions of how the stars will affect you and your money this month.
So if you want to see if you should splash out on that fantastic top you've had your beady eye on, or throw caution to the wind and head off to New York for a weekend of shopping and partying, then check out her horoscope page. And if she's urging a bit of caution, there's no need to panic. Smile have loads of ways to make hard-earned cash stretch further.
Fuss-free options
Take their rather splendid current account for instance. It pays 3.04% AER on every single penny you have, which is around 30 times more interest than the high street banks. They also give you an automatic £500 overdraft too, at a generously low rate of just 9.9% EAR and free from tiresome arrangement fees.
Then there's their Visa card. Their standard rate is just 9.9% p.a. for current account holders, and 10.5% p.a. for everyone else, and they pay 0.5% cashback on all your purchases. Plus they've promised never to charge an annual fee. Can't be bad.
All this aside, the really refreshing thing about smile is that when you get an email from smile or talk to them on the phone, you are treated in a pleasant everyday fashion, there's none of the usual 'starchiness' associated with the banking industry.
You can access your account 24/7 either online or over the phone - their friendly staff are always available to help deal with any of your issues - relationship problems apart!
The ethical choice
But the icing on the cake is that they don't behave like a bank at all. They pride themselves on their ethical investment policy, which simply means they will not invest in organisations involved in anything from arms trading to genetic modification, or anyone who has less-than-perfect records on human or animal rights. So you're safe in the knowledge that your money isn't playing dirty.
Smile ensure that they do everything they can as an organisation to be as ecologically friendly as possible. The building they work in, for example, is even run on poo. To be more scientific, it's actually run on methane, a by-product of digested sewage, kindly 'donated' by the people of Bournemouth. But as proud as they are of this green credential, few members of staff are keen to know exactly how it works.
Summary
- 3.3% AER, that's over 30 times more interest than some other banks pay
- £500 fee-free overdraft, at only 9.9% EAR
- Special rates on our credit card, savings account and cash mini ISA
- All the convenience of banking online but with 24 hour support via e-mail or the telephone
- They have a strict Ethical Policy, which means your money will never be invested in unethical organisations
- They'll switch your old current account for you - hassle free. It usually takes just 14 days.
posted by Barbara Gordon at 9:01 PM
Smile Current Account
6 Comments:
I transferred to a Smile current account from Lloyds over 4 years ago after getting fed up of being ripped off by the high street bank.
It was a very easy transfer (thanks to Smile, and no thanks to Lloyds), and since then I have been continually impressed by the high standards of both the internet and phone side of the bank. Nothing is too much trouble for them. They really are a top bank.
As someone who errs slightly towards trades unionism, and the like I decided to switch my current account to the newest offering from the Co-Operative bank, Smile.
Now, I should point out that I am a mere 18 years old, getting hold of a decent current account through banks is a bit of a pain, I earn less than £6,000 a year as a sales assistant for Woolies, so an overdraft, I thought was stuff of mere dreams.....
I applied for a Smile current account (fed up with my card from a large high street bank) and typed my details in, within minutes I had a decision, YES, a Visa guarantee card, and a whooping £500 overdraft!! With anything over -£260 in my account I'm charged 3.3%EAR but I'll live with that!
Now came setting up the account, which for me was four forms of ID, simple I thought, car log book, driving licence, passport, and insurance certificate for my car. Got it all signed by my neighbour who's a PC, and sent it off....
A few days later I got a reply to say I couldn't use my Driving licence and my log book because they from the same source, hey-ho, I sent them a statement from my current bank.
The account was set up and I received my card and cheque book a few days later. However two weeks later I'm still waiting for my paying in book....
So in all, I recommend smile, great customer service, and they're kind to us young 'uns!
I have been a customer of SMILE for a number of years now, and now have a Current Account, Savings Account, Mini Cash ISA and a Credit Card. As you can see, I am a big fan of Smile.
Although the interest rates they pay are certainly good, and compare very favourably with all of the big 'High Street' banks, they are never at the top of the best-buy tables.
However, as a customer of a few other on-line banks, their Customer Service is certainly hard to beat. Although I have never phoned them, they are always very quick to reply to any secure messages sent to them.
Their product range is also wider than most other banks, as it includes Mini Cash ISA's, Student Accounts, Investing, Travel Insurance, Mortgages etc etc.
Paying money into any of the accounts has always been easy, and can be done at any Post Office using the pay-in books provided.
But now, paying cash into your Current Account is , literally, instant. Simply hand the Post Office clerk your card and the cash and they will swipe your card and, as if by magic, the cash will be in your account. To test this claim, I paid some cash at the Post Office and then went straight to the closest Cash Machine (it took me less than two minutes) and the money was already showing on my balance.
Overall, I think their choice of name is very apt, because when I hear of trouble caused to other people by their banks, I cannot help but SMILE.
I will be very non-PC in this review, I am warning you. Everybody is raving about Smile, aren't they? Especially the ethically minded, politically conscious folk....
Smile IS an Internet-branch of Co-Operative bank and thus is considered to be a much better thing in ethical stakes than the let's say the corporate horror that is Barclays.
But it's not all that smiley and lovely down there in Smile-land.
This review relates only to the CURRENT ACCOUNT provided by Smile. There is no special category for these and general reviews seem to concentrate on that aspect of banking service.
I applied for the Smile current account back then in 2000. It was fairly early days of Internet banking and most of the bricks-and-mortar banks didn't offer the on-line facility.
Later on I acquired an on-line access to the Barclays account I hold jointly with my husband and I also briefly but intensively used Halifax's online banking. I also have a Polish Internet bank account. Oh dear. That means that I should have quite a good comparison benchmarks, shouldn't I? Most of my comparisons will be with Barclays' as this is account that I use in parallel to the Smile one.
*APPLICATION*
This was straightforward enough, but then I was applying at the fortunate time when I was (1) employed (2) well paid (3) able to provide UK addresses for the credit check for the previous 3 years of my life. I am not sure how successful an application from a person without a job or a more recent arrival to the UK would be considering that Smile doesn?t offer a non-frills, no-overdraft account.
The account was not activated until I signed the papers that were send by post. I have not moved any of my direct debits/standing orders to Smile as I still kept my other joint account for such purposes, so I can?t comment on the efficiency of their ?move? process.
*SITE NAVIAGTION*
Smile site has been recently updated (some time in the last year I think) and this has ironed out most of the annoying little usability problems it used to have.
The site is fast and clear, and the horrible pink colour Smile chose for its logo is not too overwhelming.
I don?t like Smile?s login process very much. It uses your account details (sort code and account number OR visa card number) and it means ? at least for me ? that I have to rummage for the cheque book or the card every time I want to log in, as I am not capable of remembering such long strings of numbers. After providing these data, you use a special security pin code (this is 4 digit, so OK?.) plus an answer to one of your ?personal info? questions to log in. I am sure it has something to do with security of the account, but I would rather compromise a little bit on security and have an option of saving the longest part of my log-in details on my home PC (Barclays allow you to save the customer number and thus you only need to remember a pin and a password).
The site has a simple, uncluttered look and is fast and easy to navigate. The process of setting up standing orders or conducting transfers is straightforward. The statements are available on line for the last 5 years of your account life. The ?recent items? page, however, isn?t so good.
Firstly, your current available money don't show in any way on the website. In other words, if you spend some money on the card the balance on the website doesn't show it until it goes through properly. The only way to check what the real situation is to check via a cashpoint. In comparison, Barclays on-line show you current un-cleared balance, last night?s cleared balance and your funds available, including transactions that have already registered through VISA but are not, as such showing on the listings. It DOES get a tad confusing if these are three different figures, but it helps to manage your money.
Secondly, a balance column is missing on the ?recent items? list, only the current balance is displayed. This means that if you want to work out if you went over the limit any time in last few days; you have to copy everything to Excel or similar or do a manual calculation!
*NON-INTERNET ASPECTS*
Money can be withdrawn from every LINK cashpoint free of charge and of course from every VISA cashpoint for a charge of £1.50.
Smile offers as a matter of fact telephone banking on top of the Internet option as well as ability to both pay in cash and withdraw money in Co-Operative bank branches and every Post Office.
I have not used the telephone facility for any 'operations'; only to sometimes check the balance and beg for cancelling of charges (of which later) but the log-in process is simple, the people you speak to generally seem helpful, competent and able to do at least some things (e.g. void your charges) without consulting their managers.
The post-office-for-cash facility is great. You can withdraw and pay in money over the counter 6 days a week without any problems provided you know your PIN. The cash you pay in registers instantly. This is very useful if you are a person who runs perilously close to the overdraft limits, especially in the light of Smile's penalty charges.
Cheques have to be sent to their office in Skelmersdale and the process takes good few days to complete - the cheques just pay in don't show on the balance until they clear, so you cannot use them even if you are sure that they will not bounce. This is the reason why I very rarely bother with paying in cheques into Smile (but then I have another every-day account).
*ACCOUNT FEATURES*
I will start with the good ones:
- Interest rate Smile pay on current accounts is very good in comparison to others. At the moment it is 3.3% (compared to for example less than 0.5% paid by Barclays). This is of course, provided you are in credit. He he he.
- £500 overdraft comes automatically with the account and there is no charge for having it or using it apart from the interest of 9.9%.
- Thy will NOT let you get above the overdraft limit via card. Barclays let you get over the limit by about £200 which can be a short-term lifesaver; but overall results in being charged unless you keep very close eye on your account.
The not-so-good features:
-Their penalty charges are simply extortionate. Getting over your agreed overdraft limit will cost you £15 admin charge PLUS £5 a day. Yes, five quid a day. This happened to me a few times due to not factoring in the interest that is charged on the overdraft. As a result I ended up with amounts ranging from £20 to £100 for being typically less than £3 over my limit.
It is possible to talk your way out of the daily charge if you plead with Smile over the telephone or via the 'secure messages' facility on the website. Normally the £15 admin charge will have to be paid, though.
These charges are the worst thing about Smile. Comparably, Barclays charge you one-off £20 for getting over the limit, and not more than three times in a month.
- It seems impossible to reduce or remove your £500 overdraft. This is a particularly strange behaviour for an ethical bank: surely they should not encourage borrowing and allow people who don't want a facility not to have one. Of course, you can simply keep the overdraft and not use it, but it is very hard not to use a facility that's there and over time small debits will generally accumulate and the overdraft will be used - that's the way it works for me, anyway. I didn?t pursue this course of action much, but I did asked once, when I was in credit and I knew my financial situation in the next year or so will be bad, and I was told that they can?t do it.
VERDICT
It's an excellent account if you are usually in credit and ocassionally want to use an overdraft facility. The interest rates are good, site works well, Post Office OTC service is a big plus and the fact that it comes from the Co-operative bank with all its ethical credentials is a definitely a major one.
However, if you ride your overdrafts perilously close to the limit, it's an account to avoid: the information on your spending appears on-line fairly late; there is no 'buffer', you will probably get charged, and the charges are huge.
Have you ever wondered how much it must cost banks to have branches in every city centre and send out junk mail to you every few months? Wouldn't you rather have some of that money?
This is where Smile has a massive advantage over high street banks - they do banking online and save a lot of money in the process, which gets passed on to their customers.
I have been a customer with smile for two years now. I joined because Smile offer far better interest rates on their current accounts than any high street bank. I have a student account which gives me 3.04% interest, far more than my current account at Nationwide which gives me 0.5%.
Another thing I like about Smile is that they gave me a debit card as soon as I joined. At the high street banks that I enquired at, I was told that I couldn't be given a debit card because being a student. I don't have a regular income, which seems a bit silly really as students still need to spend money.
Despite being an internet bank, Smile have really good customer service. Soon after I joined smile, I got a phone call from one of their friendly customer service staff asking if I was okay with using the website and if I had any problems etc.
For putting cheques into accounts, Smile provide a big wad of envelopes that you put the cheque(s) in, then can either take to a Post Office or mail directly to Smile to be processed. The only things that Smile have posted to me are the welcome pack containing the envelopes and some other info and my debit card/PIN. Occassional updates to interest rates and terms&conditions are sent by email.
I have had nothing but good experiences with Smile - I like a bank that makes me money and doesn't waste any, and that is what Smile does.
Believe me I am not the type of person to write good reviews about a bank but I have been banking with smile for over 4 years now and have not had one single complaint. I moved my current account from the Halifax and had no problems at all with the switch, it all went very smoothly and without problems.
One fear I had with Smile being an internet bank was that if there were problems with my account there would be no people there who cared but this absolutely isn't the case. There have been a couple of unusual transactions on my account, eg one large payment to my credit card that was accidentally taken twice leaving me hugely overdrawn. I would expect most banks to keep quiet and slap charges onto my account but before I even knew about the mistake transaction Smile phoned to discuss it and arranged a temporary increase to my overdraft limit until the credit card company could fix their mistake.
Because Smile is purely an online bank and not just a High St bank that offers online servicing of their accounts, you have the capability to do pretty much everything for yourself, therefore you can be certain it has been done right. Setting up standing orders/bill payments/transfers between accounts/changing contact details, can all be done online in a matter of seconds. If there are any problems or queries the telephone helpdesk are friendly and helpful, or you can send a secure message via the online site which I find is generally answered within a day or so. I always hated phoning my previous bank (I phoned because their opening hours meant I couldn't visit the branch!!) only to be told I had to go into the branch to update my address etc so this is really valuable to people who work during normal bank opening hours.
Being owned by the Co-operative Bank means that Smile have a strict ethical policy, so you can rest assured your money is being invested to support good environmental and social policies.
Smile are also great about not bombarding you with emails offering loans, car insurance, credit cards etc etc. I very rarely receive any emails from them other than the standard 'your statement is ready' type.
Last but not least the option to upgrade to a Smilemore account for £6 a month can be very useful as this gives (amongst other benefits) Green Flag roadside assistance and annual worldwide travel insurance. The travel insurance appears to be a decent policy too, they didn't have a problem with my pre-existing condition asthma.
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