Ethical investing

[tinyjo]

Now that I don't get any free overdraft and have hence moved all my overdraft onto 0% cards I can finally actually move my current account to an ethical bank (rather than Lloyds, my current lot). I'm thinking of the Co-op - their ethical policy looks good and they have a high street branch in Oxford as well as internet banking and so on. Any other suggestions? Although I do my banking primarily on the internet, I do want my current account to have a high-street presence as well - it's mostly a just in case thing I think.

The thing is, the sense of inertia is huge. I find myself putting it off, thinking of silly things like the fact that I'll have to re-learn my account number and internet banking codes. Surely this is (a) not a big deal and (b) not difficult. I know that I have a huge capacity for remembering things like that if I use them regularly. I think I'm going to take the plunge this time round though - I just have to decide whether/how much any just in case cashflow overdraft needs to be.

Does anyone know any good websites which recommend stuff like this? I'm also planning to move my utilities over to greener suppliers and things like that. I guess Oxfam or Greenpeace maybe? Any ideas?

Comments

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

This site has a lot of information: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

I know what you mean about changing bank accounts. I had intended to move to Smile, but Halifax and Bank of Scotland have integrated their online services and I can now access three of my accounts (current, saving and credit card) on one page and do instant transfers between two of them. That's awfully handy.

[diffrentcolours]

Fucksticks, yet another website that does almost exactly something I was going to do myself, but for free.

[diffrentcolours]

For energy suppliers, this was posted to the OxLUG list: http://www.good-energy.co.uk/

[jpallan.livejournal.com]

I use a local credit union for personal banking and Domini Social Investments (http://www.domini.com/) for my investment accounts. Try the Green Guide (google for it? maybe greenguide.co.uk?) for help on ethical consumer issues.

[shepline.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking of moving to Smile myself (which is of course part of the Co-op). Do you know what the difference is between Smile and the Co-op's other bank accounts?

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

We use the RSPB scheme for our electricity. Personally, I would not support Oxfam or Greenpeace via utility suppliers; their costs of administration are too high, and in the case of Greenpeace I have been really dismayed over time by the amount of sheer disinformation and material errors of fact I have had from them over the years. I support individual campaigns of theirs instead. That way I know where my money is actually going.

If you could get your office to do the office water supply from WaterAid instead of, say, Pow-wow, you would be getting genuine spring water rather than reverse-osmosed tap water, and you would be supporting an efficient system of assisting Third World community groups to acquire clean water supplies. It's cheap, too.

You can get your connectivity services from fish.co.uk, another ethical supplier.

Alternatively

[t--m--i.livejournal.com]

... alternatively, since (from what you say) you are still in debt (debts + assets < 0), you could go for the best possible deals for current accounts, utilities and so on) and give the money saved to the good cause of your choice (and change to the ethical suppliers of your choice) once you are out of debt and have an emergency fund of six to twelve months' outgoings.

While the debt is being cleared there are still plenty of ways to keep the karmic balance without slowing the march to solvency.

You could always try www.greenchoices.org

[littlegreenboat.livejournal.com]

- tho' I'm afraid we haven't had the funds to update the Money page recently...

Banks

[cloudhigh.livejournal.com]

OK - so you pressed my "Experience" button! Here are some personal thoughts and ideas on a selection of Banks so you can see what I think: this is all hugely summarised so come and talk to me if you'd like more info -
- Barclays - tended to be snotty with students some years ago, so I left £0 in my account for 10 years and gave up all but the Barclaycard, which is probably /functionally/ the best credit card you can get (though Amex plastic beats all HANDS DOWN on service), but see notes on SMILE.
- Egg - started out well with a nice really personalised feel, but Prudential, the owners, don't like them (because they've been trying to sell them and can't) and it shows. The Egg credit card has had some problems recently with speed of transfers, so I don't recommend it. The accounts and internet accounts are sound enough, but as I say Prudential don't love them much any more and their share price is crap, so I wouldn't use them if I were you.
- Citibank - pretentious. VERY good phone service, but the web service is a bit icky sometimes. They do all their banking through Lloyds, oddly enough. So that's their Counter Presence. Very appropriate for the up and coming City professional. They sell themselves on being an Investment Banker with a personal service and you can open foreign currency accounts easily and offshore accounts easily too. You also get a personal banker, which is quite nice (LloydsTSB scrapped theirs until the introduction of their Premier Service), but you do have to put a minimum of about £20,000 in there to get them to take you seriously, otherwise 2K in the current account is the minimum investment. They have some quite neat ways of making money including 60 day-type accounts and Forex differentials which are risky. Recommended if you have dosh to play with. Not otherwise as their current accounts can have low interest.
- Alliance and Leicester - sound good but get picky with their current accounts and how much you pay into them. Unfortunately I'm a share holder, so I shouldn't complain. Actually, some quite good interest earning products.
- LloydsTSB - still the best for my money. They are probably the most innovative bank on an /all-round basis/, and have a good range of products with a reasonable halfway house towards Premier service, the Platinum account. It has some nice features --sensible tiered interest, high interest savings accounts, goodies hanging off accounts and cards. However, they can be distant and have moved away from personal service (except for business accounts, and here I quite like their service which is innovative and friendly) unless you use their Premier accounts, for which you need to give them 100K. I still like them. Don't fall for the 100K stuff --the Platinum Account is fine. Keep 5K in there and it's free. Look out for their Internet Only account which is a good earner. ISAs are a little under-performing but I suggest Virgin Money instead for those.
- SMILE - Jury's still out. 3% interest on current account with no min or max balance. I found they do stupid things like send unsigned new Gold Cards to the address I had three years ago, charge me when they make a mistake of debiting a credit card account TWICE for the same amount, and need hassling to get things right. They did in the end, though. I like the visibility of all your accounts in one place. Fortunately: a) they are ethical, which I like; b) their Gold Card is the best all-round card as it pays you money back on a MONTHLY BASIS (none of the others I know about do and they're all cutting their rates except this one); c) Interest on their savings accounts is good; d) there are some excellent other services, like share dealing and stuff.
- Natwest - their interest rates are appalling. Have closed all but one of my accounts. Not very impressive these days.

So, what do I recommend? I suggest you go for SMILE, warily at first, as your ethical new banker, but KEEP at least one LloydsTSB current account open as your high street bank. It is easy peasy to transfer money between banks these days using internet access --simple to set up both for LL and for SMILE. Anyway, let me know what you think.