Commodo

Commodo is a UK financial brand that sells its products mainly through its app and website. Its range covers the everyday money products most households use: current accounts, mortgages, loans and credit, including its named credit product, the Commodo Flexible Credit Account. Day to day, that means you can hold your money with the brand, borrow through it, and manage everything from your phone or computer rather than over a counter.

Because Commodo is an app-based provider, the day-to-day experience is built around managing money from a phone: signing in, moving money, checking balances and contacting support. This page explains what Commodo offers, how its charges work, who can open an account, how to run and close one, and what protection applies if something goes wrong, including how to complain and where the Financial Ombudsman Service fits in.

What Commodo offers

Commodo's range spans the main product types a household needs. Its current accounts are the entry point: day-to-day accounts for receiving salary, paying bills and spending by card, managed through the app. Around those sit its loans and credit products, the best known being the Commodo Flexible Credit Account, a credit facility that lets a borrower draw money as needed rather than receiving a single lump sum, with charges based on what is actually borrowed. That product has its own page covering how it works, its fees and how to apply.

On the lending side, Commodo also arranges mortgages for people buying a home or remortgaging, a process explained step by step in the home buying guide. If you fall behind on a mortgage, lenders must treat customers in arrears fairly, and there are specific rules, covered in the charges section below, about when a lender may add charges to an account in difficulty.

If you are weighing Commodo against other providers, the section guides set out how each product type works in general: current accounts, savings accounts, ISAs, credit cards, loans and mortgages. Insurance is not listed among Commodo's products, so if any insurance is offered alongside them, check who actually underwrites the cover before relying on it. For an overview of all the main providers in the market, see the directories of banks and building societies and lenders and card issuers.

How Commodo's charges work

Commodo does not publish its charges on this page, and the right place for today's figures is its own website and the terms for each product. What can be set out here is how charging works in principle across the product types it sells, and the rules that limit what a firm can charge in some situations.

For credit products, including the Flexible Credit Account, charges are normally based on the amount outstanding, so the cost falls as the balance is repaid. For mortgages, the charges that catch people out are usually arrears fees and default charges added when payments are missed. Here the rules are specific: a mortgage lender must not apply charges to your account each month where you already have an arrangement in place to repay your arrears⁵. In other words, once you have agreed a repayment plan with the lender, monthly arrears charges should stop, and it is worth checking your statements to confirm they have.

Costs can also be added by third parties rather than the lender itself. Where a creditor goes to court for a charging order, which secures a debt against your home, the creditor pays a fee to the court for the application and then adds that fee to your debt⁶. This is a general feature of debt enforcement, not a Commodo charge, but it shows how a debt can grow beyond the original borrowing. If you are struggling with debts of any kind, the debt guide explains the free help available, including from debt advice charities.

For everyday accounts, the things to check in the terms before opening are: any monthly account fee, charges for using the account abroad, charges for missed payments on credit products, and what happens to the interest rate on savings if conditions are not met. Commodo's own product pages carry the current figures.

Who can use Commodo

Commodo's accounts are open to UK residents who can meet the standard identity requirements that apply across the banking industry. To open a bank account you usually have to fill in an application form, and you will need to provide proof of identity including your full name, date of birth and address⁷. Depending on the account, the application can be made online, using an app, over the phone or in person².

Beyond identity checks, a lender will normally run a credit check when you apply for credit, and the outcome affects both whether the account is offered and the charges. The credit scores guide explains what is in your credit report, how to check it free of charge, and how to correct errors before applying.

There are also legal limits that apply to any bank, not just Commodo's own rules, and some people find a standard account is not available to them. Where that happens, alternatives exist, including credit unions, which are covered in the credit unions guide. Commodo's Flexible Credit Account, as a credit union-style product, has its own eligibility conditions, which are set out on its product page.

For businesses, the position differs: under the scam reimbursement rules described later, consumers, micro-businesses and small charities are the categories covered by the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code⁸, which is worth knowing if you are choosing an account for a small organisation as well as for yourself.

Managing your money with Commodo: app, online and phone

Commodo is designed to be managed digitally. Depending on the account you have chosen, you can usually manage it online, using an app, over the phone or in person². In practice, the app is where most customers do the routine tasks: checking a balance, moving money between accounts, paying people, freezing a card and messaging support.

For signing in, the options depend on the service you are using. Some government-linked account services let you sign in with a security code issued in a letter, or with GOV.UK One Login as an alternative⁹. Within the Commodo app itself, sign-in is by passcode or biometrics, with recovery options if you are locked out.

A practical point on security: banks and their apps will never ask you to move money to a "safe account" or ask for your full passcode. If a call or message claiming to be from Commodo asks for either, it is a scam, however convincing it looks. The scams and fraud guide covers the common patterns and what to do, and the fraud section below sets out the immediate steps if money has already left your account.

How to open an account with Commodo

Opening an account is a short process, but being prepared makes it quicker. The steps are:

1. Choose the product you need, whether a current account, a mortgage, a loan or the Flexible Credit Account, and read the terms so you know the charges and conditions.
2. Fill in the application form, which can usually be done online, in the app, over the phone or in person depending on the account².
3. Provide proof of identity: your full name, date of birth and address are the standard requirements⁷.
4. Pass the provider's checks, which for credit products include a credit check.
5. Wait for confirmation, then set up your sign-in details and, for a current account, your payments.

If you are opening your first UK account, or you have recently arrived in the country, the proof-of-address requirement is often the sticking point, because utility bills and tenancy agreements take time to arrive in your name. The getting started guide explains what documents work and what to do if you do not have them yet.

For the Flexible Credit Account specifically, the eligibility conditions, the application route and the fees are covered on the product page. For mortgages, the mortgages guide explains how affordability assessment works before any application is made.

Switching to or from Commodo

Switching a current account is designed so that payments move with you. The MoneyHelper guide to opening, switching and closing a bank account sets out the steps: you choose the new account and a switch date, and the new provider moves your money, Direct Debits and standing orders across, redirects incoming payments including your salary, and closes the old account, all within 7 working days. The same process works in reverse if you are leaving Commodo for another provider, and it can be used even if you have an overdraft with your current bank².

Before switching, it is worth listing what is paid into and out of the old account, including small annual payments that are easy to forget, and checking that any overdraft on the old account can be moved or repaid, because an overdraft is a debt and does not transfer automatically.

Closing an account is also covered by the account terms. The terms allow the firm to close an account itself: it may do so by giving at least two months' written notice, or immediately in specified situations, such as false information having been given, illegal use of the account, or a breach of the agreement¹⁰. If you are closing the account yourself, check the terms for any notice period and make sure incoming payments have been redirected first, so nothing bounces after closure.

Customer service and complaints

Commodo's customer service runs through its app and website, with contact details published there. For anything more than a routine query, the advice is to make a formal complaint rather than just raising it in conversation, because a formal complaint starts a process with fixed timescales and preserves your rights.

The process is:

1. Make a formal complaint to the company involved, setting out what went wrong and what you want done about it¹¹.
2. Give the firm time to investigate and respond. It has up to eight weeks to send a final response¹².
3. If you are unhappy with the response, or no final response letter arrives within eight weeks, you can bring the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹².

Keep notes of dates, names and what was said, and copies of anything you send. Complaints to the ombudsman are free³, so there is no cost to escalating, and you do not need a claims management company to complain for you: using one does not improve the outcome and may reduce what you keep, since their fees come out of any redress.

Taking a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service is the free, independent body that settles disputes between consumers and financial firms. The rules give consumers the right to complain to the firm and seek redress, and to refer the complaint to the ombudsman if the firm does not satisfy it¹³. You will be referred to the ombudsman if your complaint is about poor service¹⁴.

In practice, you fill in the ombudsman's complaint form, and a case handler is assigned who may ask for more information¹⁵. You can bring the complaint yourself, or ask someone to talk to the ombudsman on your behalf, such as a friend, family member or support worker¹⁶. The ombudsman can be reached by phone on 0800 023 4567¹⁷, and making a complaint is easy and free³.

The scale of the service gives a sense of how often this route is used. In the first quarter of 2026/27 the ombudsman opened 5,783 complaints about credit cards and 50 about payment instruments⁴; across 2025/26 it opened 4,451 complaints about travel insurance¹⁸. Claims management complaints, a category that includes firms charging fees to pursue complaints, numbered 75 in the year to July 2024¹⁹. Those figures cover the whole industry, not Commodo alone, but they show the ombudsman handles large volumes of everyday banking and credit disputes.

Where to turn if fraud is suspected

If you think your Commodo account has been used for fraud, or you have paid a scammer or shared your financial details with a criminal, contact your bank immediately²⁰. Speed matters: the sooner the firm knows, the more chance there is of stopping or recovering a payment. Use the number in the app or on the official website, never a number from an email, text or call you did not initiate.

If you are unhappy with the firm's response to a scam complaint, you can take the matter further by referring it to the Financial Ombudsman Service²¹. For push payment scams, where you were tricked into sending money yourself, reimbursement may be available under the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code, which covers consumers, micro-businesses and small charities⁸. The code sets out when a bank must reimburse, taking account of whether the customer took reasonable care and whether the bank gave effective warnings.

Some scams arrive by post rather than online. If you have received a postal scam, the Citizens Advice consumer service can be contacted by phone or online²². The scams and fraud guide covers the warning signs across all channels, and the consumer protection guide explains your rights when things go wrong with a firm.

How your money is protected with Commodo

Protection with Commodo rests on two layers: the rules the firm must follow and the way your money is held. Firms carrying out financial services activities such as deposit-taking and making investments are regulated by the FCA and the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and its Regulated Activities Order²³, and dealing in investments is a regulated activity in its own right, so firms offering such services need FCA authorisation²⁴. You can check a firm's entry on the FCA Register yourself, which shows what permissions it holds.

On card and payment services, certain interchange charges in the payment system are capped under the UK IFR, and compliance with all its provisions, including the caps and business rules, is monitored by the Payment Systems Regulator²⁵.

On safeguarding, the account terms state that customer funds are kept separate from the firm's own funds and placed into a secure account with a bank, or covered through an insurance policy or similar guarantee¹. This is the safeguarding model used by e-money and payment institutions: it is a legal obligation to hold your money apart from the firm's business money, but it works differently from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and the level of protection if a firm failed would depend on the terms and the arrangements in place. Before opening any account, read the terms on the provider's own site and check the FCA Register entry, and see the consumer protection guide for how the different protection schemes compare.