Credit union dividend (aka interest)

vector

I understand that every credit union is its own limited company, and so things vary, but...

When is the dividend paid (jan 1st, april 1st, dec 31st or when)?

Is it lodged to the account on that date, or is it only lodged when the customer next goes to the branch?

What is the usual rate of dividend (3 percent)?

silverside

it varies. best thing is to ask your local credit union. There will be only 2 or 3 credit unions at the most which you could join (where you live, and where you work).

Why do you ask?

vector

I've earned 4k over the summer working before college cos I thought I'd have to repeat but luckily I passed so now it is just in my current account doing nothing for me.

I want to put it in the CU, but 3 percent, while not keeping pace with real inflation, seems too good to be true.

So I was wondering if there is a catch. I know that the local CU don't send statements, customers use a book so a catch could be that dividends are only paid to the account when the customer next uses the account, allowing them to keep the money meanwhile, that is to say that dividend payments would not be made to an account on a set date.

silverside

Don't leave it sitting in your current account for much longer :O

You should be able to get 2 or 3% in a few places - the CU, AngloIrishBank, NorthernRock (?). If you have an SSIA you could put it in there.

On the other hand, you may not want the hassle of calling into your CU once a week to take your money out.

There's no catch really. If the interest doesnt get written into your book its probably still on the computer. You'll be calling in every few weeks to lodge or withdraw money anyway, won't you?

vector

No, I'd lodge the 4k in the CU and not walk in the door for another 12 months.
I'll ask if there is a dormant period, or something similar just to be safe though.

grumpytrousers

vector wrote:

No, I'd lodge the 4k in the CU and not walk in the door for another 12 months.
I'll ask if there is a dormant period, or something similar just to be safe though.

Dormant period me arse...

The money's automatically credited to your account, although you won't know it until they update your book....

The CU isn't out to pull a fast one on the members - thats why they pay more interest. That and their overheads are less, as they don't sponsor national events and..um..spend money on sending out statements...

Credit Unions - There Is No Catch

(they should use that as a slogan...)

vector

grumpytrousers wrote:

Dormant period me arse...

The money's automatically credited to your account, although you won't know it until they update your book....

Yep, but when is it credited to your account?
- on some fixed year end type date along with the other account holders?
or
- only when you next have your book updated? (allowing the CU to have the use of the money and interest meanwhile)

grumpytrousers

vector wrote:

Yep, but when is it credited to your account?
- on some fixed year end type date along with the other account holders?
or
- only when you next have your book updated? (allowing the CU to have the use of the money and interest meanwhile)

November 'round these parts...

I see where you're comign from - sorry - i didn't earler.

Short answer "on some fixed year end type date along with the other account holders?"

Let me put it to you like this. You could, if you wish, pop into the credit union every 4 weeks and get an update in your book. That would be analagous to getting a statement every month from the bank. Even if you didn't get a statement from the bank every month, they'd still be keeping track of what you had, interest paid, etc.

so - assume credit union pays 2% interest simple interest (cos i'm not in the mood for hard sums!) and you put €100 in there on the 2 Nov. then the interest - the €2 is added on 1st Nov. you now have a balance of €102.

doesn't matter a flying **** that you ain't gone in to update the book. It's there. It matters not a whit that you don't even have the book to hand....

If you didn't go in for 50 years, and asked to take out your money, they'd give you...€200.

ish

vector

I have asked a few people in my office who have accounts, I see that the "transaction date" for the lodgement of interest is the date that they next went into the branch and not a uniform date.

This suggests to me that interest is only ledged when the person next goes into the branch.

However, perhaps the "transaction date" is forced to be the same as the actual date of printing of a docket.

To test this one could request a copy of a docket issued in the past, and see if the date was in the past or today, or one could request a printed statement which would show the lodgemet date of the interest...

grumpytrousers

To test this one could request a copy of a docket issued in the past, and see if the date was in the past or today, or one could request a printed statement which would show the lodgemet date of the interest...

Jesus wept...'to test this one could request'...

will you listen to yerself laddie. Here's a novel way-out idea.

Ring them. Ask them. Report back here...

RainyDay

vector wrote:

I have asked a few people in my office who have accounts, I see that the "transaction date" for the lodgement of interest is the date that they next went into the branch and not a uniform date.
...

Who are you kidding? You found 3 (or more) people in your office who are all members of the same credit union and ALL of whom just happened to have their CU passbooks with them?

vector

RainyDay wrote:

Who are you kidding? You found 3 (or more) people in your office who are all members of the same credit union and ALL of whom just happened to have their CU passbooks with them?

We were discussing it and they (4) brought in their books the next day. They (and now I) are all members of the local credit union. There are more people in the office who don't have accounts, (indeed there is one guy here for the summer who doesn't even have a bank account, imagine being 17-20 and not having any account)

sceptre

vector wrote:

(indeed there is one guy here for the summer who doesn't even have a bank account, imagine being 17-20 and not having any account)

Totally off-topic but they're out there, surprising as it may seem. Plenty of people, especially in the country, who tend to put their money in a mattress or the p'stoffice. And of course there are plenty of people (including youngsters) who don't have any money at all to speak of, despite the sick-growl of the celtic tiger (or perhaps spend all their dividends from de Beers in the pub and HMV) and probably don't think it'd be worth opening a bank account just to have something to do. But that's another thread again.

vector

Maybe he has a PO a/c, the crux is he doesn't have a sort code and an eight digit a/c # anywhere.

Does the PO have a sort code and an eight digit a/c #?

grumpytrousers

sceptre wrote:

Totally off-topic but they're out there, surprising as it may seem. Plenty of people, especially in the country, who tend to put their money in a mattress or the p'stoffice. And of course there are plenty of people (including youngsters) who don't have any money at all to speak of, despite the sick-growl of the celtic tiger (or perhaps spend all their dividends from de Beers in the pub and HMV) and probably don't think it'd be worth opening a bank account just to have something to do. But that's another thread again.

I knew a bloke who didn't get a bank account until he went on college work experience where they wouldn't pay cash in hand.

It was his first time using an ATM card.

He wrote his PIN on it. In Tipp-ex.