I noticed card top ups from Triodos to Revolut were failing - I thought they could speed up the transfer times. Always failed so I contacted Triodos - they have blocked all card payments to Revolut citing fraud - almost akin to how banks block Binance. Seems a bit extreme as a faster payment to Revolut could have even less clawback!
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Here’s another odd one! Triodos only offer overdrafts for a specific purpose eg car repairs with a predefined repayment term - almost akin to a loan! So no overdrafts to help with smoothing out direct debit dates etc
It’s a big traditional bank thing of generally not liking anything that isn’t a licensed bank. This sort of issue seems to plague basic bank accounts with the big banks too.
When my my mom had a basic Nationwide account before switching to Monzo, she was never able to set up cash app with it or send me payments via Monzo.me for instance. Though it was never tested with Revolut, I doubt it’d have worked there either.
Not sure Triodos is really a ‘big bank’ tbh.
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Wrong word. I meant traditional.
You sure you’re not mistaking it for a personal loan?
This wasn’t how they worked when I was a customer, though I do believe they ask what you want it for and for how much when you apply for one.
I think it’s likely that fraudsters have targeted people through the “debit card top up” that Revolut offer. This could allow you to top up with another persons card or indeed top up your own Revolut where they have access (any desk style scams where they encourage you to setup a new account whilst they watch) - but surely 3d secure should cover this from a fraud/risk? It seems like resourcing issue to me - where they’re being risk averse as they don’t want to deal with the problem even if there would be more genuine usage than not.
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Not at all here’s the wording:
An overdraft can be requested by calling us but they need to be for a specific item and have an expiry date. We do not offer overdrafts for “just in case” reasons.
This is from a secure message they don’t advertise the restriction
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How strange.
Must be a new thing. It’s very different to the wording on the product page too, where it’s described just like any other overdraft from another bank.
Perhaps a cost of living lending retrenchment - but it’s a far from atypical and renders the facility a relatively expensive loan
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One of the things I like about NatWest/RBS is that the faster payments are instantaneous. I used to have an account with Triodos and the faster payments often took up to two hours and sometimes two days, lol.
That’s very much a Triodos problem. The only name bigger than them who don’t process faster payments from current accounts immediately is Co-op Bank.
Tesco Bank had the same issue but they don’t do full current accounts any more.
Oh it absolutely is a Triodos problem. Unfortunately they give ethical banking a very bad name. They refuse even to offer Apple or Google Pay. The whole operation is distinctly third-rate. There is no reason why an ethical bank can’t be every bit as efficient as a non-ethical competitor.
I have/have had accounts with Metro, Barclays, Santander, Halifax, Lloyds, Nationwide, Triodos, First Direct, Chase, TSB, Clydesdale, Virgin Money and the Co-operative - those I can remember. Only Triodos and Co-operative are unable to make instant faster payments.
I’m not sure that’s entirely true - the offering is more or less solely about the transparency of what goes on with the funds deposited. I only moved my savings away as another place with similar values became a market leader in interest rates (and I wanted to cut out the £3 fee) - but there’s not the same transparency. Ultimately it depends if just swerving fossil fuels investments is sufficient (so somewhere like Oxbury or RCI would do for savings, or Coop or Algbra for current)
They use RBS for processing payments in a similar manner to how a building society would. Seems those who have gone down of partnering with Modulr come out looking a lot better.
Easy workarounds if you want to use the Triodos current account are to use curve for digital wallet payments, and top up Revolut via curve (they block straight up card payments for “fraud reasons”)
It’s all very 2005, but for me the speed in them getting back to you via secure message and the lack of willingness to use social media channels for support is what lets them down. Coop are way better in this regard. Coop payments are quicker too, outbound are instant, payments in take about 5 minutes to show. Oxbury get back to emails in under an hour.
As for RBS - didn’t realise they didn’t still come under the “your funds are damaging the environment” bracket. Perhaps it’s changed, the do offer carbon footprint tracking like Algbra. But that term was coined by the fossil fuel industry to put it back on the individual lol. Fine for businesses less so the consumer imo.
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I think it is entirely true. Those of us who try to buy ethical products or services often have to put up with a less effective product and it becomes a balancing act where it needn’t be. Triodos is a bank and its transparent and ethical lending policy has no bearing whatsoever on its efficacy as a bank. Lending ethically does not automatically lead to faster payments which often necessitate a phone call to get them released, or to poor customer service, or to the lack of Apple or Google Pay. Ethical business models and efficiency are not oxymorons. There is an expectation among the general public that this is however how it is and that is because of the antics of Triodos or companies jumping an an ethical bandwagon with a sub-par product. We must break that link.
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Ultimately, you can’t get a breakdown of where investments etc are made anywhere else. It is a USP. The rest of the offering is sub par for me, however to someone else it could be perfectly satisfactory.
That said, they don’t have the level of adoption to have “given ethical banking a bad name”, most people simply won’t have heard of them.
I do think that they will never hit mainstream adoption with the current offering, and I can’t seem them improving on it sufficiently, so perhaps that’s a good place to end and agree on 
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I’m really not sure why you are arguing with me. Triodos appears at the top of the ranking in every ethical banking article, including Which and Ethical Consumer, so I think it has had exposure, certainly to the ethical consumer. It’s just another example of a sub-par ethical offering and I and many, many people I know prefer to buy or use the ethical product. That’s all I’m saying.
What you’re describing just isn’t good enough.
The ins and outs of how a licensed UK bank undertakes instructions for its current accounts should be zero concern of the customers.
If they can’t make it work the way their competition can then that’s on them. If they need to change their service providers then so be it.
Right now their answer is basically ‘this is it, and we want you to pay us for the privilege of having it’.
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I agree, hence my comment attesting that they’re very unlikely to attain mainstream adoption & I closed my account via a current account switch!
Keyboard warriors and all that. I agree we should end it there and move on. 