UNISON UniBond

rachie29

Hi There,

Just looking for a little advice. I am a UNISON member at my place of work. I have just received a leaflet regarding the UNISON Unibond that they offer. I was wondering if anyone on here has one or has experience of using UNISON for such things and if they are worth it? I am new to all this saving money in different ways!!

Thank you in advance,

Rachie29

dunstonh

First rule of thumb when looking at products being retailed from unions is to treat them with caution. They are usually expensive or obsolete and often both.

This appears to be no exception to the rule as its just a re-labeled Coventry Assurance Society product.

It is expensive, has low investment growth potential and isn't quite as tax free as it makes out (it is tax free but the benefit to most basic rate taxpayers is negligible and nothing they cannot get from a stocks and shares ISA to equal or greater extent).

I wouldnt go near it. The only winners here are Unison who get a nice big chunk of money paid to them for selling it to you.

poppy10_2

It's a fifteen year "with profits savings plan", -there's no guarantee of any growth at all over the fifteen years, and if you need to cash in any time within the first ten years you will end up losing money.

Have a look

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/is-it-time-to-cash-in-your-withprofits-savings-plan-522859.html

rachie29

You guys are brilliant. Thank you. Usually when something looks too good and easy to be true, it is! Thanks for your help. I'll stick with my ISA!

As someone who is starting to save and look to buy a house for the first time, I think i'll be on here a bit!

boatrocker

dunstonh wrote: »

First rule of thumb when looking at products being retailed from unions is to treat them with caution. They are usually expensive or obsolete and often both.

Declaration of interest: I am a UNISON branch official - though I don't financially benefit from promoting UNISON affinity products.
-

This is not quite true. In some cases, you can get a good deal through such products. One such example is the UNISON Prepaid Mastercard, which is a fiver to buy it, and then a £1 monthly fee while the account is in credit, which gives other benefits, such as £10k holiday insurance, and discounts which if used make back more than the fees involved.

Another example is the UNISON Credit Card which is known to be a good deal, as many members have said to me. UNISON members also get bonus rates on savings and mortgages through Britannia, which are always better than their advertised products.

Whether the member in question takes up the UNISON affinity product is up to them, but to simply dismiss them in a blanket manner is unfair. You might think the UniBond isn't a good deal (I don't have one myself so I wouldn't know) but some of the special offers available to union members can save you a fair bit of money, as well as helping the union (which is no bad thing for a union member) so everybody wins.

I wouldnt go near it. The only winners here are Unison who get a nice big chunk of money paid to them for selling it to you.

It's not big. All of the money UNISON earns from affinity partners is diverted into their International Fund, which is used to support unions in the global south and international development projects. That fund earned just shy of £1 million last year, which given the wide variety of affinity products (see for yourself on the UNISON website) and the fact that UNISON has over 1.4 million members, doesn't strike me as a "big" chunk. The biggest chunk of money the union gets is from subscriptions, which totalls £100 million annually, I believe.

opinions4u

boatrocker wrote: »

Declaration of interest: I am a UNISON branch official - though I don't financially benefit from promoting UNISON affinity products.
-

This is not quite true. In some cases, you can get a good deal through such products. One such example is the UNISON Prepaid Mastercard, which is a fiver to buy it, and then a £1 monthly fee while the account is in credit, which gives other benefits, such as £10k holiday insurance, and discounts which if used make back more than the fees involved.

It's not holiday insurance. It's travel accident insurance. It only "covers you for 12 months and pays a lump sum of £10,000 if you suffer
Permanent Total Disability while travelling" - if your bags get lost or your camera gets nicked or you have to cancel through illness it doesn't cover you. If you lose a couple of legs when your plane crash-lands in the Medierranean and you somehow survive, you get £10k.

(The spending discounts, if used, are quite impressive though - 5% of fuel and supermarket shopping can make this pay handsomely, but many employers and unions offer the chance to buy shopping vouchers at a discount anyway, without the £5 joining fee and £1 a month charge).

Another example is the UNISON Credit Card which is known to be a good deal, as many members have said to me.

The terms appear to be identical to the product Halifax offer via their normal web site, except the Unison go to rate is 2% higher. No better. Individuals can also pocket £20 for themselves if they buy the Halifax card via TopCashback or other similar sites. so buying the product via Unison loses the member that £20 and costs them 2% more interest in 9 months time.

UNISON members also get bonus rates on savings and mortgages through Britannia, which are always better than their advertised products.

A quick glimpse at the 10 year FTB mortgage offer reveals identical rates and fees for Unison members or customers accessing the Britannia web site direct. Unsion cash ISA rate tops out at 1.50% - the same as the public site for Britannia. No benefit for union members - but they have been pushed towards Britannia products when they would do better to shop around elsewhere. Somebody with £15k in an instant access ISA would be over £150 better off transferring to Intelligent Finance than putting it in the Unison/Britannia product. And IF ain't the top payer!

Whether the member in question takes up the UNISON affinity product is up to them, but to simply dismiss them in a blanket manner is unfair.

I'll make a blanket statement. You can get the same or better for every product by shopping around.

You might think the UniBond isn't a good deal (I don't have one myself so I wouldn't know) but some of the special offers available to union members can save you a fair bit of money, as well as helping the union (which is no bad thing for a union member) so everybody wins.

If the member doesn't get best value, how can you say they've won?

I'm a great believer in trade unions and have, in the past, been an active member. But they should focus on negotiating better terms and conditions of employment for their members rather than trying to flog them second rate financial products to earn a commission.

In answer to the OPs question, don't buy the product that you're considering. It's a bit like an endowment policy, but with a minor tax benefit cancelled out by higher charges.

Jonbvn

boatrocker wrote: »

This is not quite true. In some cases, you can get a good deal through such products.

No you can't! As clearly demonstrated by opinions4u, you can get better deals by shopping around than you can get from these "on-commission" products.

Anyway, shouldn't you be planning the bankruptcy of the world's favourite airline, rather then promoting these obviously poor deals on here;)