What happens with the money you deposit in your Thamesbank Credit Union account?
One of the benefits of placing a deposit with Thamesbank is that your money is guaranteed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme – up to a limit of £85,000. If you would like further details about this scheme and how it operates then please contact us at admin@thamesbank.org.
Your deposits enable us to make loans available to all Thamesbank customers and they are therefore vital if we are to continue to do so. However, over the last 18 months or so during the pandemic, as our customers have not been able to spend money by going out to pubs, restaurants or on holiday, the volume of our deposits has increased significantly. At the same time, the demand for our loans has decreased by around 30%. This is not because we are turning down more requests for loans, rather because we are receiving fewer loan applications. We would like to emphasise that we remain fully committed to providing many different loan types – all subject to our terms and conditions which can be found on our website.
Do we have any limits to the deposits made in our savings account with Thamesbank?
Many of you probably do not know that there are actually limits on the amount that you can deposit with Thamesbank. These limits are described in our ‘Thamesbank Credit Union Rules’ – a copy of which is available from admin@thamesbank.org. Rather than bore you with the intricate details the current deposit limit is the larger of £10,000 or 1.5% of our cumulative share balances. Currently, our share balances amount to c£986,000 thus 1.5% of this is £14,790. This all means that the theoretical maximum amount that members are permitted to deposit with Thamesbank is currently £14,790.
Do many members in Thamesbank overpay in their saving accounts?
The vast majority (over 98%) of you have deposits way below this figure – however, there are a number of members who have deposits with us in a larger amount than this. This does cause the business some regulatory issues which we are keen to avoid. The Directors have discussed this matter and have decided – for the time being – NOT to compulsorily return any amount above the £14,790 figure mentioned above. However, it would be very helpful if the members who are affected by this limit could voluntarily reduce their deposits to the £14,790 limit. As we have said we will not make this compulsory although those affected members should understand that if and when the Directors pay a dividend then it is likely that any dividend will only be paid on the first £14,790 of your deposit.
To conclude we would like to emphasise that your deposits are safe at Thamesbank Credit Union – guaranteed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme – and they are vital if we are to continue to make loans available to all of our members. With this current excess of deposits, we hope that this situation can be alleviated by an increase in loan demand.
Should any of you have any questions on this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.
Nicolas Dowler
Treasurer – Thamesbank Credit Union
Find out more about Thamesbank’s savings accounts here.