Q&A

Status of EBSWith all the current speculation regarding the demutualisation of Irish Nationwide, are there any indications that EBS might eventually go down this route?If this is likely to happen what would be the qualifying conditions to be considered a member? Would mortgage-holders qualify or does an investment account need to be held?Ms H.N., Wicklow

As you say, there is plenty of talk about Irish Nationwide Building Society's impending demutualisation but I would not read too much into that as far as the EBS Building Society is concerned.

The fact is that the EBS has consistently indicated that it has no interest in demutualising. There is absolutely no reason to believe that it will change its view on that.

As it happens, the EBS has been taking several steps in the recent past to accentuate the positives of mutual status.

These include offering special high-interest-rate accounts to members and contributing to community initiatives.

It has also been talking to mutual groups throughout Europe to pick up ideas and expand its offerings, again within the framework of a mutual society.

Having said that, I have no doubt that the carpetbaggers will eventually get around to targeting the EBS. Mutuals are trying to make life more difficult for carpetbaggers all the time but that is unlikely to deter them.

If, by some freak chance, the society changed its mind or was forced into it by members, it would have some discretion in the parameters it sets. But that does not affect the status of current accountholders.

If you currently have a mortgage or savings account with the society and receive documentation from the society regarding its annual results and, more particularly, voting forms for its annual general meeting, then you are a member.

That won't change even if the society does decide to move away from mutuality. The only people to be affected would be those who do not currently have accounts or those who have accounts that do not grant them voting rights at the society's annual meeting.

The EBS, like any society, can amend its membership rules. In the case of building societies, this is generally done by raising the financial threshold that grants membership. Irish Nationwide has ratcheted this up from the statutory minimum of 127 to something closer to 20,000.

SSIAs

I opened an SSIA account in 2001. It is a variable deposit account and I paid into it from an account at a different bank. I have just noticed that no payments have been processed from my bank account into the SSIA for some months. How can this happen and what can I do about it?

Ms A.O'B., Dublin

The good news is that, whatever has happened, your special savings incentive account (SSIA) is still open. That's good news because, if it were closed, you would be facing a tax charge of 23 per cent on everything in the account and a much more difficult task in reactivating the account.

The rules of the SSIA scheme state that monthly payments have to be made each month for the first year of the account. Thereafter, especially with variable-rate deposit accounts such as yours, there is plenty of flexibility in changing the size of payments, stopping payments altogether and leaving the existing account to mature or taking a payments holiday.

Having said that, you need to find out exactly what has gone wrong and the first port of call should be the bank through which you were making the payments. This was an automated payment from your account and should have gone through without a hitch.

Of course, if there was no money in the account, the bank could decline to make the payment but, if that happened for any reason, I would be amazed if you did not learn of it. The bank would almost certainly have contacted you if it had refused payment on your account and there would have been plenty of associated charges in your subsequent bank statement.

The situation is complicated by the fact that this situation has been going on for some time.

If it turns out that the payment was refused for lack of funds there is very little you can do, although I would still be concerned that the payments in subsequent months were not processed. It seems highly unlikely that you had insufficient funds for that prolonged period without being aware of it.

If it turns out that the bank, for whatever reason, simply did not process a payment from your account despite being mandated by you to do so, it has a problem.

You should insist that the bank immediately contacts your SSIA provider to arrange the back-payment of your instalments and the crediting of matching Government payments and any interest owing.

Naturally, you will have to fund those payments out of the money sitting in your account that should have been going to the SSIA provider during the relevant months.

Sharewatch

I have just seen part of an article that you wrote about Sharewatch, the online trading organisation in Ireland.

I was wondering if you could tell me if it is a safe, reputable company to deal with or even if you would recommend using it.

Mr P.C., email

Sharewatch is a phone and internet broker dealing, as far as I am aware, with straightforward execution-only dealings.

As far as their reputation is concerned, all I can tell you is that they are regulated by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA). It should be able to tell you of any issues with the company, although I would be surprised if it would allow it to continue operating unless it was anything other than safe and reputable.

As to whether I would recommend using them, I am not in a position to recommend using any one broker against another. It all depends on whether you want the best price, personal service or a long track-record.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.