Regulation, reporting, security and service

Regulation

Credit Unions, like all other financial organisations in the UK have their operations monitored and checked by official government appointed organisations.
All credit unions within the UK are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. These are the same regulators who supervise banks, building societies and other financial organisations. Credit Unions have to submit regular financial reports to the regulators as well as meeting strict requirements set by them.
Details of all regulated firms appear on the Financial Services Register

EuroTrust Credit Access’s firm reference number is 213575.

Auditing, Compliance and Insurance

EuroTrust Credit Access undergoes an annual audit by a qualified external auditor. The auditor inspects the credit union’s business over the financial year and provides a report to the membership at the Annual General Meeting.
A compliance function is also in place within the credit union with specific responsibility for ensuring that the credit union complies with regulatory and legislative requirement.

By law, credit unions are asked to maintain an insurance policy to protect the Credit Union and its members against fraud or theft. This provides the membership with reassurance that their credit union savings are safe and not at risk.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

EuroTrust Credit Access, like all UK credit unions and other financial organisations is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This scheme was set up to provide a safety net should a bank, building society or credit union become insolvent.

Important Information about compensation arrangements
We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to depositors if a credit union is unable to meet its financial obligations. Most depositors – including most individuals and small businesses – are covered by the scheme.

In respect of deposits, an eligible depositor is entitled to claim up to £85,000. For joint accounts each account holder is treated as having a claim in respect of their share so, for a joint account held by two eligible depositors, the maximum amount that could be claimed would be £85,000 each (making a total of £170,000). The £85,000 limit relates to the combined amount in all eligible depositor’s accounts with the credit union, including their share of any joint account, and not to each separate account.

The length of time each claim takes to process depends on a number of factors, some of which are entirely outside the FSCS’s control. Generally, a claim will be processed within the following timeframes:

Claims against deposit takers
The FSCS will aim to pay compensation in the majority of cases within seven days of a bank, building society or credit union failing. Any remaining claims, which are likely to be more complex, will be paid within 20 working days.

Claims against all other companies
The FSCS tries to resolve all claims against Investment firms, Insurance Brokers, and Mortgage Brokers within six months of receipt of your correctly completed Claim Application Form, or within six months of the company being declared in default (whichever is later).

For further information about the scheme, (including the amounts covered and eligibility to claim) please call us on [phone_no], refer to the FSCS website, call the FSCS on 0800 678 1100, or ask at your local credit union.

Financial Ombudsman Service

Everyone at EuroTrust Credit Access is committed to providing the highest level of service to our members at all times. We appreciate feedback from our members and with respect to complaints about any aspect of our service we aim to respond quickly and to resolve these for you as effectively as possible.

In the event that we are unable to resolve a complaint to your satisfaction, you have the right to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Set up by law to help settle disputes between consumers and financial organisations, the Financial Ombudsman Service will only look complaints after an organisation has had the opportunity to investigate it first and to provide a response.

If you are not happy with our final response to a complaint or no final response has been provided within an eight week period from the date of the initial complaint, then you are eligible to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service and to request them to investigate the issue on your behalf. There is no charge incurred for doing so and any decisions made by the Financial Ombudsman Service are binding on the financial organisation concerned.

For more information, visit the Financial Ombudsman Service website. 

Staying Safe Online

Increasingly these days as we share more of our personal data online and access funds through our laptops, phones and other devices, online security can be a concern. At EuroTrust Credit Access, we’d like to share our top 9 tips on keeping safe online;

1. Download software updates to ensure that vital security upgrades have been carried out to keep your data secure

2. Use anti-virus security software on your laptops, pc and desktops

3. Use strong passwords that are not easy to guess or can be found on your social media pages. It’s useful to mix letters, numbers and special characters

4. Don’t write down your passwords and leave them lying about anywhere. If you must write them down, keep it hidden somewhere safe

5. Don’t share your passwords, especially online or by phone/text

6. Don’t use just one password

7. Don’t use plain dictionary words. There’s software that hackers use for these – even spelled backwards

8. Keep yourself safe by updating your password periodically

9. Have fun with passwords, like creating shapes – %tgbhu8 creates a ‘V’