Cahoot is an Internet bank part of the well known Abbey National group. Cahoot began in 2000 & offered only credit cards but recently has added other products to their range i.e current accounts & loans. They have no high street branches & only offer banking via the internet or telephone(at national call charges).
Cahoot was one of the original companies to offer interest free creditcards for a set period of time, I can't think of any at the time that offered this facility it was set to become a trend. I first heard of Cahoot on a sky digital channel known as "Simply money" it was not an advertisement but a best buy, only being offered to the first 50000 applicants(I think, can't recall the exact numer of applicants).
My experience with them relates to having their credit card & current account. The credit card I originally applied for offered an Interest rate of 0% fixed for a year, extremely competitive. I immediately transfered all my credit card balance from my original credit card with TSB & left it there occasionally paying various amounts so the balance would be more or less clear by the end of the year (although a small amount was also debited each month via direct debit as the minimum payment). I must mention that at the end of the period they did offer me an extra month at 0% interest. I recently applied for their current account which offered £250 intrest free overdraft which again is very competitve compared to other High street or internet banks.
Since banking with them I have contacted them on three occasions via e-mail from their site & telephone on all three occasions their responses have been very good, although I have had to hold on their telephone line once for a about 10 mins but compared to other telephone banking services it was acceptable.
I recently needed immediate cash on a Saturday evening I have a main current account with LLoydsTSB (into which both our salaries are paid) I contacted their telephone banking service which refused to increase my overdraft limit & reffered me to my branch being Saturday that meant two days without any money, I then contacted Cahoot as to increase my overdraft I had used up the intrest free £250 (one of the main reasons in opening the account), I rarely deposited any money in to the account & had been overdrawn at the time I honestly expected them to refuse the overdraft but they agreed to increase it to £500 which was available immediately.
To conclude- I'm satisfied with most of their services such as site navigation & telephone services but find paying cash/cheques into the account time consuming, cheques are deposited in to the account using envelopes they send out & the only way to pay cash is to transfer it from another account (which takes about 3 working days). As I have never sent cheques to them & prefer depositing them into a branch based account & transferring an amount when required. I personally would reccommend anyone having or thinking of opening a cahoot account to also open a branch based account. Finally their rates change often so do check their website for recent changes.
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I have used Cahoot for a personal loan. I think it is amazing that they offer loans at 7% tipycal APR. and that you can repay them whenever you want. I bought a car with the loan and I have decided on the minimum repayment each month which I think it's quite handy. Cahoot is definately a +. marco
sue.51 10.03.2002 01:16
Could be time to change my bank.
Sue
jpass 07.10.2001 08:43
Sounds like a great account/credit card. I like the idea of a year's interest free credit. Are they still doing this and did they give you a healthy credit limit? I have the Egg introductory offer but I am looking to transfer my balances to another card. Will give Cahoot a look. Thanks. Jo
Advantages: Best rate of interest on deposits, good website generally, and ease of use. Disadvantages: Poor communications, certain features not working properly yet
RippedoffPete 14.07.2001 ·
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Review of Cahoot
Advantages: 24/7 banking facility, instant access, £500 a day from cash machines, good interest rates. Disadvantages: Internet only manipulation. Deposits via the mail or post office can introduce some delay.
quoia 15.07.2001 (02.08.2001)
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Review of Cahoot
Oct 5th, 2001
very helpful by (98%):
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