Phoenix are part of the Co Op financial services group, based in Manchester/Salford, Interesting to know they pass stuff to fredrickson.

Yes, I think it is a [problem]. Around Xmas I went over my limit by £1.06 and got a charge on my account . I contacted them by phone and was told that there was a threshold for transactions under fifty pounds where supermarkets don't verify the funds are in the account hence the limit being breached. Told them I was going to take my receipt to the supermarket and get confirmation of this and they pretty quickly gave me a goodwill gesture refund. The charge left my account next day and was refunded within a couple of hours thereby triggering another letter which led to another etc, and have now been charged 9 times in 6 weeks for one withdrawn charge. Welcome to Hell!

I think that Smile and Co op are one and the same. Recently fell behind with payments to Smile and they always identified themselves as Co Op when the evening phone hassles started. Even after I corrected them and said ' You mean Smile' they were unable to identify my account as anything other than Co Op. Really there is absolutely no difference, like the Woolwich and Barclays. Once you fall out of favour with the Woolwich its Barclays you end up dealing with which for me is ironic as I joined the Woolwich in the early nineties to escape Barclays.