Credit Unions - Are these a good option for savers and should they be offered as an employee benefit

friolento

wmb194 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

masonic said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

Some of them seem to get around the common bond restriction: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/february/pra-issues-two-bans-and-three-public-censures-following-failure

There were plenty of wrongdoing in the above case, but offering one of their products to any saver living in the UK wasn't raised as an issue in itself.

In actuality the "common bond" restriction is not really such (unless the individual CU considers it to be integral to their organisation's existence). Look at the LCCU addressed above, open to anyone who lives, works or studies in one of 7 London Boroughs (or lives with someone who does). Guesstimate says that's about 5 million people. Other CUs are open to anyone who's a Civil Servant, a teacher or works for the Health Service. Million each?

And I don't meet any of those restrictions...

IIRC anyone who is a COOP member anywhere in the UK can join the LCCU. AFAIK, COOP membership is free. Not that there's anything particularly special about LCCU.

wmb194

friolento said:

wmb194 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

masonic said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

Some of them seem to get around the common bond restriction: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/february/pra-issues-two-bans-and-three-public-censures-following-failure

There were plenty of wrongdoing in the above case, but offering one of their products to any saver living in the UK wasn't raised as an issue in itself.

In actuality the "common bond" restriction is not really such (unless the individual CU considers it to be integral to their organisation's existence). Look at the LCCU addressed above, open to anyone who lives, works or studies in one of 7 London Boroughs (or lives with someone who does). Guesstimate says that's about 5 million people. Other CUs are open to anyone who's a Civil Servant, a teacher or works for the Health Service. Million each?

And I don't meet any of those restrictions...

IIRC anyone who is a COOP member anywhere in the UK can join the LCCU. AFAIK, COOP membership is free. Not that there's anything particularly special about LCCU.

No, it costs a pound. One pound too much.

GDB2222

wmb194 said:

friolento said:

wmb194 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

masonic said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

Some of them seem to get around the common bond restriction: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/february/pra-issues-two-bans-and-three-public-censures-following-failure

There were plenty of wrongdoing in the above case, but offering one of their products to any saver living in the UK wasn't raised as an issue in itself.

In actuality the "common bond" restriction is not really such (unless the individual CU considers it to be integral to their organisation's existence). Look at the LCCU addressed above, open to anyone who lives, works or studies in one of 7 London Boroughs (or lives with someone who does). Guesstimate says that's about 5 million people. Other CUs are open to anyone who's a Civil Servant, a teacher or works for the Health Service. Million each?

And I don't meet any of those restrictions...

IIRC anyone who is a COOP member anywhere in the UK can join the LCCU. AFAIK, COOP membership is free. Not that there's anything particularly special about LCCU.

No, it costs a pound. One pound too much.

Tesco charges more on some goods if you don't have a Tesco card. Likewise, the Coop charges more to non-members. Until recently, our local coop was the best supermarket in an area badly deprived of good supermarkets. We refer to it as Fortnums North.  

wmb194

GDB2222 said:

wmb194 said:

friolento said:

wmb194 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

masonic said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

Some of them seem to get around the common bond restriction: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/february/pra-issues-two-bans-and-three-public-censures-following-failure

There were plenty of wrongdoing in the above case, but offering one of their products to any saver living in the UK wasn't raised as an issue in itself.

In actuality the "common bond" restriction is not really such (unless the individual CU considers it to be integral to their organisation's existence). Look at the LCCU addressed above, open to anyone who lives, works or studies in one of 7 London Boroughs (or lives with someone who does). Guesstimate says that's about 5 million people. Other CUs are open to anyone who's a Civil Servant, a teacher or works for the Health Service. Million each?

And I don't meet any of those restrictions...

IIRC anyone who is a COOP member anywhere in the UK can join the LCCU. AFAIK, COOP membership is free. Not that there's anything particularly special about LCCU.

No, it costs a pound. One pound too much.

Tesco charges more on some goods if you don't have a Tesco card. Likewise, the Coop charges more to non-members. Until recently, our local coop was the best supermarket in an area badly deprived of good supermarkets. We refer to it as Fortnums North.  

But a Tesco Clubcard is free. The Co-ops around here are truly awful.

GDB2222

wmb194 said:

GDB2222 said:

wmb194 said:

friolento said:

wmb194 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

masonic said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

Some of them seem to get around the common bond restriction: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/february/pra-issues-two-bans-and-three-public-censures-following-failure

There were plenty of wrongdoing in the above case, but offering one of their products to any saver living in the UK wasn't raised as an issue in itself.

In actuality the "common bond" restriction is not really such (unless the individual CU considers it to be integral to their organisation's existence). Look at the LCCU addressed above, open to anyone who lives, works or studies in one of 7 London Boroughs (or lives with someone who does). Guesstimate says that's about 5 million people. Other CUs are open to anyone who's a Civil Servant, a teacher or works for the Health Service. Million each?

And I don't meet any of those restrictions...

IIRC anyone who is a COOP member anywhere in the UK can join the LCCU. AFAIK, COOP membership is free. Not that there's anything particularly special about LCCU.

No, it costs a pound. One pound too much.

Tesco charges more on some goods if you don't have a Tesco card. Likewise, the Coop charges more to non-members. Until recently, our local coop was the best supermarket in an area badly deprived of good supermarkets. We refer to it as Fortnums North.  

But a Tesco Clubcard is free. The Co-ops around here are truly awful.

If your local coops are awful, you presumably don't shop at the coop, and there's obviously no reason to join. We were in the unusual position of finding that the coop was the best!

pafpcg

masonic said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

Some of them seem to get around the common bond restriction: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/february/pra-issues-two-bans-and-three-public-censures-following-failure

There were plenty of wrongdoing in the above case, but offering one of their products to any saver living in the UK wasn't raised as an issue in itself.

@masonic - thanks for posting the link.  As one of those taken in by the too-good-to-be-true DotCon debacle, I'm reassured to see that action was eventually taken to halt the serial setting-up & failure of credit unions.  Fortunately, I emerged unscathed (in fact, substantially in profit due to the offered interest rate) after the FSCS funded the repayment of all account holdings - a very large "Thank you!" to the FSCS.

There's a thread on MSE about that credit union here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4938603/dot-comunity-credit-union-isa  - all 130 pages from April 2014 to Jan 2016.

ircE

wmb194 said:

No, it costs a pound. One pound too much.

I didn't want to comment on this post since it seems to have been revived unnecessarily but just wanted to point something out in response to this comment. Should you change your mind and become a member, one of the first offers you receive in the Co-op app is £1 off your first shop, thereby effectively returning your £1.

rich184

wmb194 said:

rich184 said:

wmb194 said:

Third rate and amateurish would be my assessment of credit unions. They'll never see widespread adoption until the silly, 'common bond' restriction is lifted.

That may be your experience but mine is very different!  My credit union has a strong digital service, pays a competitive return on my savings and a range of fairly priced loan options.  They provide financial education too.  Also, their average time to answer the telephone is 15 seconds.  Third rate and amateurish?  I don’t think so. 

Name names.

Commsave Credit Union 

Malthusian

ircE said:

I didn't want to comment on this post since it seems to have been revived unnecessarily but just wanted to point something out in response to this comment. Should you change your mind and become a member, one of the first offers you receive in the Co-op app is £1 off your first shop, thereby effectively returning your £1.

Which you then pay back to them many times over. The Co-op I frequent (because it's the only option in the area I work in) has the highest prices and the worst produce of any shop I go into.