“Members sometimes don’t feel comfortable taking their complaints to the credit union” – Gail Cork, CUDRC
The Credit Union Dispute Resolution Centre Pty Ltd (CUDRC) was established in November 1996 to assist participating credit unions and their members resolve complaints in a fair, timely and cost-effective manner. The CUDRC was funded by participating credit unions as part of their ongoing commitment to member services. Operating from the offices of the Banking and Financial Services Ombudsman (BFSO), CUDRC provided free access to participating credit union members around Australia.
The establishment of the CUDRC came with the institution of the Credit Union Code of Practice. According to Cuscal’s Directions magazine the Code “heralded a new era of more stringent accountability for credit unions. The Code introduced measures to protect consumer rights”.
Directions interviewed CUDRC’s Manager Gail Cork in 1996:
“We’re here to ensure that credit unions that do not follow the Code do not bring the whole sector into disrepute. We try to protect the integrity of the Code.
“My job is not about giving credit unions advice about running their business -they already know how to do that and they do it well. However, they may not be trained in methods of resolving disputes”, said Gail.
By October 1997, 202 credit unions had signed on to the Code and around 700 issues had been handled by the CUDRC. The most common areas of complaint were:
- Interest rates and credit union fees and charges – 18%
- Service delivery (general) – 17.7%
- Disputed account debiting and crediting – 16.2%
- Service delivery (instructions) – 9%
- Account combination/closure – 8.6%
- Service delivery (EFT) – 8%
Gail Cork added that 9 out of 10 complaints are resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.
In 2009, the Financial Services Ombudsman established a Mutuals Division that dealt with disputes involving mutual financial services providers replacing the Credit Union Dispute Resolution Centre.
Today, the Customer Owned Banking Code Compliance Committee, an independent body, monitors compliance with the Customer Owned Banking Code of Practice.
