Open
Letter to the Board of Hunter United.
You may be wondering why anyone would go to the extraordinary length to
publish a letter on the internet. It is simply because when I requested your
details I was told that "it is against company policy
to give out their details". I would
have thought it would be a legal requirement that the public can find out who is running an organization. But I`m no lawyer.
So this is addressed to the secret board members of Hunter United. You know who you are ;-)
I have been able to write to John Ford (Managing Director of Hunter United) and Helen Murray (Chairman of Hunter
United). I first wrote to Mr Ford on the 16th
of June and finally got a reply on July 28th - obviously a very busy
Man. Too busy to pay much attention to my complaint, completely ignoring the
cause of the problem. Ms Murray has yet to respond.
Hunter United are circulating a very misleading email where they compare their service with those of several other banks. What they fail to mention is that unlike all the other banks mentioned, the Hunter United account pays ZERO interest if you make any withdrawals during the month. They call it a Premium Online Investor Account, however it is really a Fixed Term account, and unlike other Fixed Term accounts (which do provide at least a reduced interest amount if you are forced to withdraw before the end of term), the Hunter United account pays NOTHING. They have your money for a whole month to invest and make money from but give you nothing in return.
Of course it`s in the terms and conditions - but morally you have to question how that can be reasonable for a Credit Union - set up for the benefit of members - to make a huge margin from people who, suddenly find they need the money they have put into the account. The only people who will suffer from this are people who either forget about the terms, or have an emergency that they need to cope with. Is it right to make a killing from people in that position? This is a profit above and beyond what they expected to get.
The very least Hunter United could do is warn their customers of the severe penalty for making a withdrawal - at the time of the Withdrawal.
I was caught out by the misleading email. It was 11 months since I opened the account. I had no money in the account but I had my Wife`s savings in a UBank account. When I got the email from Hunter United, telling me I could get a better rate from them, I decided to transfer the money into that account. After 11 months I had completely forgotten about the killer clause. And because Hunter United only give a statement every three months. It was three months before I realized that a few small withdrawals had cost me all the interest I was due. Hunter United had our money for two months and paid us nothing in interest.
Since then I have written many emails, practically begging them to forgive my poor memory. But Hunter United have declined.
So all I can do is warn you about Hunter United`s misleading advertising, and advise you not to expect any sympathy from them for any mistakes you might make.
Take my advice and move your money to Ubank - or anywhere other than Hunter United - you cannot trust them to have your interests at heart.
P.S. Even though I have complained that the email Ad is grossly misleading, Hunter United continue to circulate it with out modification.
An open letter to the mysterious board of Hunter United Credit Union.