Dot ComUnity Credit Union - ISA

Porcupine

Just doing my 'due diligence'. I noticed they have received a notice from the FSA (as it was then). 'DotComUnity Credit Union' is a trading name of 'Enterprise The Business Credit Union', which is the registered name referred to in FSA/FCA material:

Date: 08/01/2013 Type of action: Variation: to restore permission/regulated activities
On 21 September 2011, the Financial Services Authority (the "FSA"), by a First Supervisory Notice dated 14 September 2011, varied the Part IV permission of Enterprise The Business Credit Union Limited ("EBCU") of 75 Queen Street, Morecambe, Lancashire LA4 5EN.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/Communication/Notices/Supervisory/

The reason for this action was that the FSA considered it necessary to vary EBCU's permission as it had failed to maintain positive capital.

On 10 January 2012, the FSA lifted the variation at the request of EBCU after EBCU had satisfied the FSA that it had returned to positive capital.

which is a little concerning that they ran out of capital.

What I'm trying to find is the published accounts: that would give some indication of their financial state. But I can't seem to find them - there's only articles of association at Companies House (they're not a limited company), and nothing showing on the FCA website. Unfortunately searching for '<bank name> accounts' is not very fruitful when looking for auditors reports not savings bonds.

Yikes, I just found the FSA notice (my bold):

The FSA has further varied EBCU’s permission pursuant to section 43 of the Act by including the following requirements with effect from close of business on 21 September 2011, namely that EBCU must not:

(1) make new loans, or make further advances in relation to, or otherwise vary the terms of, any existing loans;

(2) redeem any member’s shares;

(3) effect any share to loan transfers;

(4) repay any deposits; or

(5) without the written consent of the FSA, make any payment, or otherwise dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of its assets, except to pay expenses incurred in the ordinary course of EBCU’s business.

Unless I've misunderstanding things, the credit union was insolvent by £20,000 in September 2011, and the FSA applied a lockdown which lasted 3 months. It's unclear if savers were able to withdraw during this period.

It's important not to jump to conclusions here: the credit union market is small and relatively undeveloped, hence struggling is not unexpected. But it is a little worrying if, despite the FSCS, the FCA is able to lock down deposits like this. I think I'd be happier if a) there was an explanation on what the FSA's Variation notice means in practice and b) the published accounts were available.

Zanderman

Steve_xx wrote: »

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?

Agree entirely website is a mess! It is, now, working again as far as I can tell (parts were down over the weekend) but I've got little confidence in it.

Basics, like the £12 membership for ISAs only, are difficult to confirm (and absent entirely from the membership application form).

I'm interested in investing, but wary of any outfit that can't get their info straight or their website and website forms working properly.

And as others above have said, I wouldn't regard emailed info as confirmation of T&C and process - I'd want to see all the info on site, in writing, upfront.

innovate

Zanderman wrote: »

- I'd want to see all the info on site, in writing, upfront.

Plenty of places about with pretty 24x7 websites and miles of T&Cs. They typically pay you about a percent less as they need the money to pay people for websites. I can't see the point about moaning about the DCU website and setup - it's a credit union, not a bank or building society, and long may it stay as it is. If it is not for you, you have plenty of alternatives to choose from.

Zanderman

innovate wrote: »

Plenty of places about with pretty 24x7 websites and miles of T&Cs. They typically pay you about a percent less as they need the money to pay people for websites. I can't see the point about moaning about the DCU website and setup - it's a credit union, not a bank or building society, and long may it stay as it is. If it is not for you, you have plenty of alternatives to choose from.

Doesn't matter that it's not a bank - that's not an excuse for not making T&C and how to join/open an account clear. The latter is, after all, where they get their money from and they're missing a trick (and therefore investment) if they can't make these things clear to potential investors.

And yes, I do know I have plenty of alternatives to choose from, but thanks for reminding me!

innovate

Porcupine wrote: »

Just doing my 'due diligence'.

Not pretty what you found there, but not anywhere near half as disastrous as Northern Rock, RBS, HBOS or the Coop.

Their ISA might not be for someone who wants instant access but none of their offerings is instant access in the first instance. Should they go bellies up, the FSCS protection will cover everybody up to £85K, and the money will almost certainly be available to depositors within a week or two (judging from the FSCS track record).

Bottom line assessment for me is that they are no less safe than any of the mainstream cash ISA providers.

DotComUnity

Steve_xx wrote: »

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?

Good Evening,

Sorry for the delay in replying to your message - i'm only just getting use to this.

I appreciate that its not as simple as clicking a link in your online banking if your with one of the high street options, however, as a Credit Union, we do have to work within the infrastructure that is available at the price we can justify.

The process of becoming eligible for a DotComUnity Cash ISA is pretty much as you describe:
1. You Join Now by visiting the website and clicking the link.
2. You join as both a member of DotComUnity Centres - Paying your £12.00 pa membership fee and DotComUnity Credit Union - Paying your £5.00 into your Basic Share Account
3. You can apply for a New Cash ISA through the ISA page of the website by downloading the Application Form
4. If you wish to transfer, please request this form via the instructions listed on the ISA pages.
5. Then your pretty much up an running with all the products and services of DotComUnity available to you.

Hope this helps,

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

Steve3S13 wrote: »

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

Thanks Steve for the great comments.

Any recommendations on how we can make the experience even better are greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

hgt wrote: »

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.

Thank you for the great comments,

We are continuously striving to achieve that personal touch, which as you say has been somewhat lost in the development of the banks.

We are going to be looking to attend to the website over the next couple of months (its not as straight forward as having someone dedicated full time), as it has to be a staged process.

Stay with us, it'll be worth it

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

JGal wrote: »

How come this account doesn't feature on the MSE best cash ISA page?

Good point,

We have asked, however are still awaiting a reply.

Kind Regards

Rob

DotComUnity

FOREVER21 wrote: »

Any one else having problems trying to log in to account, is the server down?


NB Just checked www.isitdownrightnow.com and confirmed server is down.


Hope this is just temporary for this "new kid on the block", just after I have opened an ISA with them.

Good Evening,

Sorry for the inconvenience with the online registration and secure members area.

There was an outage, from what were led to believe over Saturday and Sunday. The system is now back up and running, and our 3rd party provider is looking into the cause.

Please rest assured, we take any outage seriously and will be looking into making sure this doesn't affect our members.

Kind Regards

Rob