Difficulty opening C.U.account for grand children without birth cert & ID.

[Bronze Tank]

My wife has opened a Credit Union account for each of our grand children shortly after they were born. She has been a C.U. member for 40 years.

Every week she makes a small deposit (€5.00) for each child. The idea is that when they reach 21 she will give them their account.

When our latest grandchild was born, she went about opening an account but she was not allowed. She was told that she would need a birth cert and some form of I.d. from my son.

My son posted on the documents but she was once again not allowed open the account because she was told that my son was required to be present. (Like he's going to come back from Australia to open a credit union account)

How sad that because of the actions of a few, the ordinary decent people of Ireland are now being treated like criminals. Forty years membership of the credit union was not even taken into account. Needless to say, she is very upset.

Is there any governing body that I can present this ridiculous situation to?

Thanks.

 

[Sandals]

Needed to change three people on a voltunary group bank acc recently to three new people. BOI, in and out bank 7 times, each staff member telling me different thing each time I went in. Shocking time wasting. Red tape gone mad. Money laundering is what I told was the reason for all the checks...

 

[Bronze Tank]

Money Laundering....

Shocking time wasting. Red tape gone mad. Money laundering is what I told was the reason for all the checks...

Yeah... I can see where they're coming from... €5 a week is a hefty sum... Especially when she's lodging money for her four grandchildren...

 

[Padraigb]

If the grandchild is resident in Australia, how is he covered by the common bond?

 

[WizardDr]

Unfortunately with the Money Laundering Regulations there are matters that are required. Folk are right that there is misinterpretation but one of the reasons for that is the Central Bank have been kicking Credit Unions hard. On the one hand there are / were some pretty bad cases.

If your wife is prepared to take action she could do two things:

1. Ask Central Bank for a ruling
2. Talk to CU and ask to see the Money Laundering Reporting Officer.

Things unfortunately are getting worse.

 

[Bronze Tank]

If the grandchild is resident in Australia, how is he covered by the common bond?

Hi Padraig... I'm not sure why my grand child's place of residence is of any relevance except for the fact that is not possible for my son to be present to open an account.

My wife is not a criminal. She has a history of credit union saving & borrowing that is over 40 years.

There are trends & patterns to her deposits and withdrawals that a chimp could interpret.

 

[Padraigb]

I'm not questioning your wife's probity in any way.

My point is that membership of a CU is based on a common bond, something that links the members together. The most usual common bond is geographical: people who live in the same community.