Are you a member or a former member of a Credit Union?

AMKC

I am well was but really do not know where I stand now. Am thinking of leaving it if I am still a member as customer service there is just terrible and they never send me any post or let me know anything any more. I blame the new management and before it it was much better. I guess they just don't care anymore.

McGinniesta

AMKC wrote: »

I am well was but really do not know where I stand now. Am thinking of leaving it if I am still a member as customer service there is just terrible and they never send me any post or let me know anything any more. I blame the new management and before it it was much better. I guess they just don't care anymore.

What makes you think the banks are any better?

Snotty

Sounds like you want a friendship not a financial institution

o1s1n

Was a member of Drumcondra credit union until it was liquidated recently :eek:

McGinniesta

o1s1n wrote: »

Was a member of Drumcondra credit union until it was liquidated recently :eek:

How much did you lose?

L1011

Former, was run so badly they were offering 0% dividends in the days when others were giving 3+% so I stopped.

Been merged since, not sure if the new one does their job properly.

o1s1n

McGinniesta wrote: »

How much did you lose?

The The Deposit Guarantee Scheme only covered me up to 100,000 - lost my gold house and my rocket car

AMKC

L1011 wrote: »

Former, was run so badly they were offering 0% dividends in the days when others were giving 3+% so I stopped.

Been merged since, not sure if the new one does their job properly.

That's what has happened with my local CU it merged with a whole lot of other ones and not for the better if you ask me.

Stovepipe

I heard a story of one credit union merged with several small CU branches and they soon built a large, expensive CU building and it emerged that the brother of the head of the largest branch got the building contract. Allegedly.

Both, I was a member of two credit unions. One local to where I live, and one associated with my workplace.

The local one was badly run, had much higher interest rates and inflexible policies so I closed that account and transferred all my shares to other credit union, which is very well run.

If you're not happy, maybe transfer to another credit union?

AMKC

Deleted User wrote: »

Both, I was a member of two credit unions. One local to where I live, and one associated with my workplace.

The local one was badly run, had much higher interest rates and inflexible policies so I closed that account and transferred all my shares to other credit union, which is very well run.

If you're not happy, maybe transfer to another credit union?

Good point but the nearest one but related to that one is a good 40mins drive away and thats by car. I have to sort out with my current one first.

cms88

I;m a member. \i've found there's a bit of n ego thing about them. Some work thinking no matter what they do they'll get baled out if thing go wrong.

BringBackMick

There really no better than a banks

Only difference is if you keep a credit union sweet and behave well....whilst perhaps falling down in other institutions they will still give you credit etc..

However all banks will blankedly penalise you if you missed a months payment 2 years ago..

So they are good to have as back up if you hit hard times

blackbox

Am I the first person to answer NO?

worded

Their car competition is really good

A lot of them have one car give away per mth a d I think it's around 75 euro per year to be entered into all draws

Their death cover is about 10K and that costs very little and will help our your relatives when you kick the bucket

The loan interest is very high

someone I know borrowed for the their house deposit 25 years ago LOL

BringBackMick

worded wrote: »

Their car competition is really good

A lot of them have one car give away per mth a d I think it's around 75 euro per year to be entered into all draws

Their death cover is about 10K and that costs very little and will help our your relatives when you kick the bucket

The loan interest is very high

someone I know borrowed for the their house deposit 25 years ago LOL

Yes if you are clever and plan in advance you can get that extra 25k you need for deposit. Obviously you need to do this 12 months before your going for the mortgage but if good at planning it could give you that crucial boost

Rachiee

It seems to depend on your CU how good their deals are, personally I find my CU great, sooo much easier to borrow from than the banks, interest not great it's higher than banks but , banks won't entertain large loans for people on average wages, at least CU is a good back up, my credit union allows you to bank online and is very convenient , I recently applied for a loan from CU got approved within 48 hrs, ( still waiting to hear back from the bank 4 weeks later)

Pythagorean

I got a letter from my CU today advising me that their deposit limit is 30k. The problem is that interest rates for depositors are swinging negative, the CUs have vast sums available, but it seems people are not borrowing. So the original raison d'etre of the Credit Unions is beginning to slip away.

gmisk

blackbox wrote: »

Am I the first person to answer NO?

Nope I don't have a credit union account.
I was born in the north though so the whole idea is a bit foreign to me.

Montage of Feck

What customer service do you want? Its a place to stick spare cash and just as long as its still there when I need it I'm happy. Although I hear rumours the annual car raffle is a bit dodgy.

BuboBubo

I am. I currently have a car loan with them. I find my local one very good, no penalty for finishing loans earlier which suits me.

Yes and it's great.

Car raffle every month
Christmas raffle
Summer bbq
Hassle free loans
Non profit so dividends and loan interest rebates
Commission free foreign currency
Budget account whereby they take from my wages every week and pay all my bills direct so no nasty surprises.

I'm a happy customer and feel no desire to receive random communicating from them. Those letters are only coming from your pocket op.

cj maxx

Are CU’s protected under the government saving guarantee thingy ?

worded

I rang a few years ago and discovered that they were charging different interest rates for diff loan types

So for a home loan it was X%and a car loan Y%
The car loan was cheaper interest and all you needed was a copy of the car Ad as far as I recall before purchase to avail of the lower rate

I didn't borrow anything on the end

Wanderer78

cj maxx wrote:

Are CU’s protected under the government saving guarantee thingy ?

Think so

phormium

Borrowing for the deposit on a house from CU was commonplace years ago before 100% mortgages existed, they always existed really for those who could borrow from CU and ended up being more expensive as your deposit was at a higher rate.

Anyways that loophole kind of closed now that CU loans appear on credit checks, when they didn't you could just say it was a savings or gift from parents

Always handy to have a CU account, they are often lender of last resort and definitely more lenient than banks even with their new restrictions, they are less of a 'computer says no' and more of willing to listen to an explanation for a blip in a credit record etc. They also make in house decisions instead of everything being in head office which means they have more local knowledge to base decisions on.

worded

phormium wrote: »

Borrowing for the deposit on a house from CU was commonplace years ago before 100% mortgages existed, they always existed really for those who could borrow from CU and ended up being more expensive as your deposit was at a higher rate.

Anyways that loophole kind of closed now that CU loans appear on credit checks, when they didn't you could just say it was a savings or gift from parents

Always handy to have a CU account, they are often lender of last resort and definitely more lenient than banks even with their new restrictions, they are less of a 'computer says no' and more of willing to listen to an explanation for a blip in a credit record etc. They also make in house decisions instead of everything being in head office which means they have more local knowledge to base decisions on.

Re ~ CU loans appear on credit checks

Even if the loan is not in arrears its visible to the banks ?

dxhound2005

cj maxx wrote: »

Are CU’s protected under the government saving guarantee thingy ?

They are protected but it is not a government scheme. It is underwritten by the financial institution which are members of the scheme. If you want a government guarantee that is State Savings, with no limit.

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/money/saving/deposit-guarantee-scheme/

phormium

worded wrote: »

Re ~ CU loans appear on credit checks

Even if the loan is not in arrears its visible to the banks ?

Yes, they joined that scheme some years back or at least the ones I am familiar with did, a list of all member CUs is on the ICB site.

andekwarhola

Stovepipe wrote: »

I heard a story of one credit union merged with several small CU branches and they soon built a large, expensive CU building and it emerged that the brother of the head of the largest branch got the building contract. Allegedly.

No doubt that was intrinsically linked to the fact that the institution was a credit union.

Normal One

I'm in my work one. Tried to apply for a car loan 6 years ago. They wanted me to fax 54 pages of application stuff. The dusty old fax machine broke down halfway through so I gave up. Still putting €20 a fortnight into savings, mind you.