Dot ComUnity Credit Union - ISA

Archi_Bald

I don't see savings rates rising a lot in the next 2-3 years so 3.75% could be attractive. But if I wanted to commit for 5 years, I would go with an S&S ISA.

gwapenut

Ed-1 wrote: »

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.

Thanks, I hadn't realised that.

Of course, my argument against paying a second year's fee is that they could well have very good follow-on rates next year, and we may be glad to be members.

At £12 x 2 it's not a worry, at £30 x 2 it was still a good rate, unless (like me) there is the possibility of needing early access.

gwapenut

I can't see any mention of concessionary membership for the ISA - is anyone able to point me towards a link?

DotComUnity

Good Morning all,

To become eligible for all DotComUnity Credit Union, you will need to join as a member of DotComUnity Centres for the reduced membership fee of £12.00 per year (This has been reduced from the standard fee of £30.00 per year). We will shortly update the website further to reflect this to avoid any further confusion.

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

FOREVER21 wrote: »

Opened an account yesterday morning after much deliberation, sent £5 and £12 by bacs, I have checked my account this am and the share £5 does not show.

I have e-mailed and asked for clarification.Fortunately I have not sent my Isa money yet.
I hope this is just a glitch in their system, and yes I know it is fscs protected but I still have my doubts as to wether to trust them with my Isa. If this is typical of their standard of service I might just stay with a tried and tested main stream organisation.

I will update when(if) I get a response.

Thank you for the points raised about the Membership Fees showing on the accounts.

As also mentioned by another poster, as a Credit Union we don't have fully automated systems behind the scenes, and as such some processes may take a little time to show with the manual inputting that our team put in place.

Please rest assured that if you have made a payment, it will show in your account- providing its been received.

The £12.00 fees will also be non-with drawable and will be allocated accordingly.

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

Archi_Bald wrote: »

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!

Thank you for raising these points.

The fees (although showed for a specific member) will be allocated against the membership - there may be a slight delay in this showing as it is a manual process.

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

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?

You are not obligated to remain with DotComUnity Credit Union for a second year.

At the time of renewal you will be offered the next years best ISA rate available and if you wish to transfer or withdraw - at the point of maturity this will be available with no penalty and no need to pay additional membership fees.

If you wish to remain, the £12.00 can be deducted from the account or paid separately.

Kind Regards

Rob

Steve_xx

DotComUnity wrote: »

You are not obligated to remain with DotComUnity Credit Union for a second year.

At the time of renewal you will be offered the next years best ISA rate available and if you wish to transfer or withdraw - at the point of maturity this will be available with no penalty and no need to pay additional membership fees.

If you wish to remain, the £12.00 can be deducted from the account or paid separately.

Kind Regards

Rob

Rob, to say the least, the website is a bit of a dogs dinner. Perhaps you could provide a bit of a resume here as to the process of getting an ISA up and running?

Do I complete this in the first instance? And does one select "concession"?

https://www.securecuserver.co.uk/dotcomunity/application/application_step1.php?s1_branch=Headoffice

Then I believe I need to open a Basic Account. Is there a link to the form to open this?

Then I assume I need to complete this in order to be able to logon?
https://www.securecuserver.co.uk/dotcomunity/members/frm_pin_request.php

Assuming that the above needs to be done how does one then get to apply for the ISA?

Steve3S13

Hi
I have just opened an ISA for myself and my wife and it could not have been easier.
Here's what I did:
firstly I clicked on the join new button and signed up for two accounts, paid £12 each to join. Next I paid £5 into each of the set up accounts. I paid all these via BACS or faster payment or whatever you like to call it, from my internet bank account. I registered with DotComUnity via the Register button.
Next I printed out 2 ISA application forms and 3 ISA transfer forms. I mailed these recorded on Monday, along with a check for this years Isa's on both accounts.
Tuesday my checks were showing as deposited in my account. Wednesday in the mail I got two statements showing the deposited amounts. Yesterday all 3 of the ISA's I had requested to be transferred showed a zero balance as DotComUnity had requested the transfers.
I joined this site today to post this because I am so very impressed with DotComUnity.
The process in all was very quick and painless
Thanks guys. I'm so glad I read this thread
Steve

hgt

Yes this was my experience too.... very impressed with DotComUnity. Customer service seems excellent and they still have that feeling of a personal service, which disappeared from banks years ago.

Admittedly the website is not the clearest in the world, but in my opinion the good interest rate and good customer service makes up for it.