Unity Trust Bank
Last Rated in Sep 2024
Your money is definitely not funding the fossil fuel industry. On the contrary, Unity delivers social impact with uncompromising integrity. Their focus is to make a positive difference in communities driven by their business lending solutions, with all loan requests needing to align with one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Have you opened an account with Unity Trust Bank since visiting Bank.Green?
Key Facts
Type: Bank
Mobile Banking: Yes
Environmental Policy: No
Founded: 1984
Serving: Organisations
Local Branches: No
Products
Checking Accounts: No
Savings Accounts: No
Credit Cards: No
Mortgages or Loans: No
Business Lending: Yes
ISAs: No
Fees
Overdraft Fee: Yes
Account Maintenance Fee: Yes
Free ATM Network: No
Impact
• Unity Trust Bank specialises in catering to organisations who aim to have a positive social impact.
• Their impact is measured via their business loans, which are only approved if they can be demonstrated to contribute to one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (several of which relate directly to climate change).
• While it is not clear that the loans they grant could not have been sourced easily from other banks, their relationship managers do have specialist knowledge in various impact-driven sectors
• They support charities and communities through their “Unity In the Community” programme, where each employee receives up to 5 paid volunteer days annually to make a difference.
Security
• Unity is registered with the FSCS, so your money is insured against loss up to £85,000.
• Unity is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
• Unity takes security online banking security seriously, using Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) to secure online payments, while using Rapport, industry-leading secure browsing software, to secure the connection between your computers and the bank.
• There is an entire section of their website dedicated to keeping you organisation safe from fraud.
Service
• Unity’s customer service line is only open during regular business hours.
• Many customers on review sites praise the customer service as being “quick to respond, professional, knowledgeable and helpful.”
• Others, however, cite long wait times for important actions to be taken, or complain of documents often needing to be sent several times.
• They have a comprehensive complaints procedure.
Accessibility
• Many customers on Trustpilot and Google praise the online banking platform as simple to use and navigate, while it is said to be easy to open an account.
• With that said, there is currently no mobile banking app and the mobile website experience is said to be subpar.
• A number of customers have complained of struggling with certain key activities, such as adding a signatory, or needing to phone in for activities that shouldn’t require it.
• Unity Trust Bank is currently an online-only bank, though cash deposits can be made via any NatWest or Ulster Bank branch.
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