Hello, Ive had a current account with the Co-Op for the past 3 months after a 6 year long battle with bad debt - finally mananged to clear my credit file and coop where the first bank that let me have a debit card after all this time

My problem is I cannot pay cash nor get a balance on the account at any Post Office, even though Co-Op state it can be used here as they are linked someway.

The first time I called CS they issued me with a new card saying there might be a problem with the chip, but the problem still remains with the new card.

I can pay for goods, use it in a cash machine etc but whenever I go to pay cash into the account at the PO counter, it seems to go through ok, although the Chip/PIN terminal asks me to hand the card to cashier to swipe, they then enter the amount to pay in and take the cash off me, its only when they confirm the amount that a receipt is printed with "*Declined* / Unable to complete transaction" on it and £0.00 as the amount. The last 4 digits of my card number are printed on it with *'s concealing the rest of the numbers but no authorisation number or anything like that.

The system asks them to try 1 more time, which results in the same error.

Ive tried more than one post office and they all say the same and are not aware of anyone else having the problem.

It's a bit of a problem as I live over 30 miles from my nearest Co-Op branch and as it's my only account now. I have no other way of paying in cheques or cash, I even asked the cashier if she could request my balance, this was also declined after I entered my PIN. (my pin is correct as it works in shops etc)

After calling CS again they said there is nothing wrong with the account, the card should work in the post office and asked me to try another post office, ive tried 3 now and its getting embarrasing and time consuming.

TBH I thought this was too good to be true, but the account is useless to me if I cannot deposit cheques etc.

Has anyone else got a Co-Op account or had similar problems or is it just me? I would be greatful if someone could maybe try to pay cash in to their coop account at the post office.

Thanks for reading

I have a smile account which is the co operative bank and i have no problem, i pay cash in at the post office and deposit cheques (dont forget to order envelopes) with no problem at all

Hi,

Like Lula, we have used the Post Office (for a Smile account) to deposit cheque, plus deposit and withdraw cash. Only once did the card terminal play up with there was a message to hand the card to the cashier for it to be swiped. When it was swiped, it worked normally.

The Post Office’s automation system handle millions of transactions over a year, I’m sure if there was an issue with it there would be many people from all over the place having issues. E.g. various banks/building societies and benefit payments and the like. So it does make me wonder if the issue is at the Cooperative systems end when the Post Office systems try and exchange data.

Sorry not much use to you though. Good Luck.

Thanks for your replies. At least I now know it must be an issue with my account. I'll try again in a few weeks and if they havent sorted it by then I will try opening an account with someone else. I didn't like the brown visa debit card anyway!

try and transfer it to smile, it is a pretty pink

and FWIW, I think that it is the card itself

Did you ever resolve this problem? This has just happened to me. I've had my smile account for about 15 years and use it to pay in cash at the post office once or twice a week. I rang the bank and they were no help, suggesting the card may be damaged and offering to send me a new one, but I'm thinking that if there was a problem with the card it wouldn't be able to read it.

threads from 2008!!

you wont get seen here

start a new thread

dx

thread closed to stop newbie innocent posts