Put your money where your mouth is

I have a Natwest bank account. I always have done, as it was the local bank to my parents and it was where they banked. As a result, when I set up my first bank account, it was a Natwest one. As I got older, the bank account type changed to a student then a graduate one, but I never changed banks.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve got more aware of the ethical implications of a lot of high street banks, and realised that choosing where you bank your money is one of the most influential things you can do. Yet my money has stayed with Natwest. I’d attribute this mostly due to laziness and busyness – it’s just never got to the top of my list of things to do.

But March was Move Your Money Month, and so it seemed like as good a time as any to actually make this change. However, with moving house and everything, it all went a bit out of the window, and suddenly it was April. Oh well....

Initial research left me with two: an ‘ethical’ bank or building society, or the local credit union. The credit union (whilst having many benefits), went out, due to the limits to access issues – I’m an avid internet banker, especially with living in a shared house where bills have to be paid and money transferred on a regular basis. And so, I did some research into the most ethical bank accounts. I ended up deciding on the Cooperative. It’s not perfect, but I like their ethical policy, and I value being able to go into a branch and talk to someone about the options available to me. There are plenty of good resources that go through all the options - the Move Your Money website and Ethical Consumer both look at it in more detail. 

So, the decision made, how exactly do you go about moving your money. Well, I popped into the local branch of the Cooperative on my way back from work, and informed them I’d like to give them my money. They made an appointment for me a few days later, and I turned up clutching some paperwork on my lunch hour.

An hour and a half later, I’d chosen which kind of current account I wanted, and started the process to move that across (which will be completed within the next 3 weeks). I’d set up an ISA and transferred across my old savings. I’d got a new savings account set up linked to my current account for the rest of my savings. And I’d got a credit card (for emergency purposes). All things considered, it was ridiculously easy. The woman spent a long time with me, explaining the different accounts, the merits of each, the savings options available, and I ended up leaving very happy. Yes, I’ve lost some of the perks of my old account (£1500 interest free overdraft?!), but the knowledge that my money isn’t being invested in things that I abjectly disagree with is a good feeling.

So the wheels are in motion, and we shall see how smooth the transition across is. They’ve given me a £1000 overdraft for the first 3 months to help with the transition while direct debits/standing orders etc are being moved across. The new accounts are set up, and they've texted me to say they're starting to move across my standing orders. All in all, pretty painless so far. Fingers crossed....