We communicated with your credit unions earlier in the month; as you may know, the Department of Rural and Community Development have engaged Deloitte to conduct a study to identify potential additional sources of dormant accounts for possible inclusion in the State-run Dormant Accounts Fund. During our discussions with Deloitte we highlighted many of the unique features of credit unions, including inactive accounts need to facilitate immediate access for say funeral expenses; the impact on dividend lodgements or car draw deductions; the retention of a minimum balance to retain membership status; LP/LS; and the fact that the funds could be for projects outside the credit union’s common bond.
We will continue to communicate with Deloitte and the Dept as required. Our analysis has shown that the return for the Dormant Accounts Fund from individual credit unions will be insignificant for the purposes of raising additional finances for the State-run Fund. CUDA would propose that credit unions remain outside of these requirements.