Dot ComUnity Credit Union - ISA

gwapenut

veryintrigued wrote: »

Understandly quite emotive in places. Even with the deposit guarantee there have clearly have been some real concerns over peoples money.

This is the key. I was happy with the FSCS protection, aware of previous issues with 3rd-party protection schemes where you rely on other countries to honour their commitments (such as Icesave), but what I hadn't banked on was the scenario where DCU becomes a "zombie" company - not collapsed, and yet with no access to funds for an indeterminate time.

This was stupid ignorance on my part. All the information was at hand, given that this very thread raised concerns about the predecessor EBCU and it was known that restrictions for that outfit were in place for over a year.

Mr_Doubtfire

Following the posts from veryintrigued and KGriff regarding reading through the whole thread (dedicated effort from them both - appreciate their kind comments), I was just having a look back through the thread myself. I note that some of the first posts from "cookie2508" which gave a lot of the initial information about the ISA have been deleted from the thread. Presumably these posts were from Rob Cook who then started posting under the username "DotComUnity" as their official representative.

For those of you with a lot of experience of the MSE forum, is it unusual for posts like these to be deleted? Could all the subsequent posts from "DotComUnity" now be deleted from the thread and the content lost for good?

Ed-1

Archi_Bald wrote: »

I have now been told in writing:

The knives are out.

Question is even though you can't transfer out in practice can you inform them that you would otherwise want to do so and so don't agree to the new "T&Cs" - surely the ISA must continue on the old T&Cs (i.e. 3% fixed interest) in that case.

hgt

I have e-mailed DCU today to inform them of my intention to transfer out my ISA following maturity on 5th May (Obviously I'll follow the transfer process with my new provider too).

I have received a reply stating they have noted my request, but no transfers out are allowed while the 'voluntary' restrictions are in place. So that suggests to me, no chance of a transfer out any time soon.

In my opinion DCU will have gone under and I'll have a cheque from the FSCS pretty soon anyway so probably won't need to bother with the transfer-out request.

jimjames

Ed-1 wrote: »

Question is even though you can't transfer out in practice can you inform them that you would otherwise want to do so and so don't agree to the new "T&Cs" - surely the ISA must continue on the old T&Cs (i.e. 3% fixed interest) in that case.

I'd assume not. If you signed up for 12 months fixed then it seems unlikely that it would roll over on the same rate.

As per the post above I'm pretty surprised how the situation can arise where you have no access to your money yet FSCS won't pay as the company hasn't failed yet the company are unable to pay up.

Mr_Doubtfire wrote: »

For those of you with a lot of experience of the MSE forum, is it unusual for posts like these to be deleted? Could all the subsequent posts from "DotComUnity" now be deleted from the thread and the content lost for good?

For anyone who has money with Dotcom and might need the info for future complaints I'd strongly suggest taking a copy of this thread with the replies and saving for yourself in case it does disappear.

Archi_Bald

hgt wrote: »

In my opinion DCU will have gone under and I'll have a cheque from the FSCS pretty soon anyway so probably won't need to bother with the transfer-out request.

I agree with you, to all intents and purposes they have gone under but the trouble is, they have not been put in default. Therefore the FSCS can't do anything.

Everyone concerned should be hammering both, the FCA and the PRA, with the question how this company is still fully authorised. You need to be persistent because they try to fob you off and refer you to the FOS. The FOS won't do anything until the earlier of you having received a final answer to your official complaint from DCU, or 8 weeks from your complaint has passed.

MARTYM8`

hgt wrote: »

I have e-mailed DCU today to inform them of my intention to transfer out my ISA following maturity on 5th May (Obviously I'll follow the transfer process with my new provider too).

I have received a reply stating they have noted my request, but no transfers out are allowed while the 'voluntary' restrictions are in place. So that suggests to me, no chance of a transfer out any time soon.

In my opinion DCU will have gone under and I'll have a cheque from the FSCS pretty soon anyway so probably won't need to bother with the transfer-out request.

A pity they didn’t have the decency to put that point in the letter they sent out – you can transfer your funds out according to the letter but of course you cannot!

I too do not want my ISA to roll over into their new dividend based ISA – given we are not allowed to transfer out what precisely happens to our funds on 5 May? The letter almost implies in the wording that if you don’t move to their new product you lose your ISA tax wrapper – which clearly cannot be correct but is almost written like you have no choice.

I can almost forgive their financial problems – what I cannot abide is the dishonesty evident in their communications.

gwapenut

But have they really gone under? Is the problem not one of reserves?

Had the PRA not interfered, I think the natural attrition from ISAs would have been manageable.

Is it not just a combination of the PRA interfering, grossly compounded by the smoke and mirrors approach of DCU when trying to string us along?

Archi_Bald

gwapenut wrote: »

Had the PRA not interfered, I think the natural attrition from ISAs would have been manageable.

We don't know what their financial state is so that's just a guess - you may be right, you may be wrong. I for one don't believe it when the credit union says they have enough funds.

bsms1147

Posts are being deleted from the history of this thread.

I am suspicious.