Dot ComUnity Credit Union - ISA

Archi_Bald

Whether you acknowledge it or not, there are substantial differences between BACS and Faster Payments. One difference, for example, is that BACS payments are not guaranteed to arrive by the end of the next working day, like Faster Payments are.

So even if you could have sent your payment to DCU by BACS (which you couldn't), you could not have expected your payment to have been received the other end by today (which you did).

FOREVER21

My Dotcomunity accounts have been opened and sorted after a telephone call, apparently my£12 subscription and my £5 share had both been placed in the share account.
This was then corrected and my on line account summary now shows up as:

Basic share A/c. = £5
Everyday- Personal = £12
ISA issue 3. =. £0

Does this tally with any one else who has opened an account? I am not sure why the subscription which I know is non returnable sits in the Everyday Personal account, but this must be just the way this quirky organisation does things.

Now the big question do I trust them with my ISA, I know they are protected by the fscs but the snags in opening my accounts and allocation of funds leaves me concerned.

Archi_Bald

You were lucky there - my £12 were swallowed by them, as expected.

Their systems aren't as swish as those of a proper bank or building society, and I also had my doubts in the beginning. I think they aren't just a small credit union but a pretty substantial organisation, with nationwide coverage. Which is, of course, no guarantee of any sort - but as you say, the FSCS protection is the saving grace.

I happily have several tens of Ks in there now. They have sent me paper statements for each deposit / transfer, and I keep them in a safe place!

gwapenut

Am I right in thinking we have to factor in two years' of CU fees? Because you need to pay/join/be accepted, then apply for the ISA, and then it expires 1 year and a few days after (always on the 5th of the month).

Which means you'll need to pay a second year's £30 fee?

Steve_xx

FOREVER21 wrote: »

My Dotcomunity accounts have been opened and sorted after a telephone call, apparently my£12 subscription and my £5 share had both been placed in the share account.
This was then corrected and my on line account summary now shows up as:

Basic share A/c. = £5
Everyday- Personal = £12
ISA issue 3. =. £0

Does this tally with any one else who has opened an account? I am not sure why the subscription which I know is non returnable sits in the Everyday Personal account, but this must be just the way this quirky organisation does things.

Now the big question do I trust them with my ISA, I know they are protected by the fscs but the snags in opening my accounts and allocation of funds leaves me concerned.

So are you saying that the £12 joining fee remains your then?

Steve_xx

gwapenut wrote: »

Am I right in thinking we have to factor in two years' of CU fees? Because you need to pay/join/be accepted, then apply for the ISA, and then it expires 1 year and a few days after (always on the 5th of the month).

Which means you'll need to pay a second year's £30 fee?

Good point. I wondered about that. Then I thought that your account would simply be terminated if you didn't want to pay the second year subscription. However, you would want to be able to arrange to transfer your ISA out and that might take a while. If the second year sub was @£12 that wouldn't be so bad, but at £30 it's a bit steep.

Ed-1

gwapenut wrote: »

Am I right in thinking we have to factor in two years' of CU fees? Because you need to pay/join/be accepted, then apply for the ISA, and then it expires 1 year and a few days after (always on the 5th of the month).

Which means you'll need to pay a second year's £30 fee?

The fee's £12 per year (not £30) for ISA customers. It crossed my mind too, but with ISA rates from the banks as they are, I'll probably be sticking around with DotComUnity for a few years yet anyway.

Ed-1

What's the consensus on the 3.75% 5-year fixed rate NISA?

Do people think it's worth going for? I'm inclined to sit tight (in the 1 year 3% ISA) and wait and see what happens with base rate in the next year and in particular what effect any rises have on general deposit rates.

What do people think?

darren72

Personally I feel that after the interest rates being so low for so long, now is probably not the right time to go into a fixed rate (especially not for 5 years).

(Only my opinion)

Steve_xx

darren72 wrote: »

Personally I feel that after the interest rates being so low for so long, now is probably not the right time to go into a fixed rate (especially not for 5 years).

(Only my opinion)

I agree with you, sort of. It is certainly the case that base rate will be moving up and I wouldn't mind betting it'll happen in the last quarter, perhaps as early as September. Now, whether that'll translate into hikes for savers anytime soon is rather a different matter. I feel that the banks might use this to drive rates up for borrowers up while leaving savers rates as is for a while. That way there is a bigger margin for the banks between what they take in and what they loan.

I wouldn't think it ideal to comit to 5 years at current savers rates.