Co-op Bank overdraft refunds

Last updated 20 October 2026 · Written by the Claims & Refunds team · How we write our guides

The Co-operative Bank is a UK high street and online bank. Its current accounts come with arranged overdrafts, and some customers relied on theirs for years.

Coventry Building Society bought The Co-operative Bank with effect from 1 January 2025. The bank keeps its own banking licence and its own name, so you complain to the Co-op Bank.

This isn’t the old “bank charges” claim, which closed after a Supreme Court ruling in 2009. Today’s overdraft complaints are about whether Co-op Bank kept letting you use, or raised, an overdraft you were relying on and struggling with, without stepping in to help.

Could you have a claim?

Banks are expected to spot customers who use their overdraft heavily and repeatedly, and to contact them and offer help. Co-op Bank may not have done enough if:

• You were in your overdraft most of every month, often for years
• Your wages only just cleared it, or never did
• Your overdraft limit was raised while you were struggling
• You had returned payments, unpaid direct debits or charges stacking up
• You were also using payday loans or other high-cost credit

What you could get back

If a complaint is upheld, the usual outcome is a refund of the overdraft interest, fees and charges from the point the bank should have stepped in. If you still owe money, the refund normally comes off the balance first. Where you’ve paid it off, 8% simple interest a year is usually added. Negative marks about that lending may also be removed from your credit file.

In one published decision (DRN-3012124) the Ombudsman found it unfair that the Co-op Bank kept adding overdraft interest, fees and charges while a customer was in financial difficulty, and told it to remove all interest, fees and charges from that point. Every case depends on its own facts.

How to complain to Co-op Bank

1. Write to Co-op Bank saying you were relying on your overdraft and struggling, that they didn’t step in, and asking for a refund of interest, fees and charges. Our free complaint letter has the wording.
2. Co-op Bank has 8 weeks to send a final response.
3. If you’re unhappy with it, or 8 weeks pass with no answer, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service for free. You usually have 6 months from the final response.

You don’t have to use a claims company. If you’d rather a regulated firm did it for you, do our free check.

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