Consumer cooperative - what is it? Credit and consumer cooperative

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Cooperation is a global system that

unites millions of shareholders worldwide"

(K. P. Dyachenko)

Consumer cooperation makes it possible to carry out business within the free economy zone and receive tax benefits. The relevance of cooperative organizational and legal forms is becoming more and more obvious. Why? What are the types of cooperation? You will find answers to these and other equally interesting questions in this article.

Modern cooperative - what is it?

A consumer cooperative is an independent cooperation of citizens (legal entities) on a voluntary basis, collective ownership of an autonomous democratically managed organization.

The goal of each cooperative should be to satisfy some need (for example, material) of its constituent entities. Participation in a cooperative (membership) is carried out by pooling shares orcontributions.

A consumer cooperative of citizens has the right not to be limited to one area of activity and to “saturate” not only material needs, but also social, cultural and socio-economic ones.

Democracy of cooperation is that regardless of the amount of the share (contribution), the shareholders have equal rights. The highest management body is the general meeting of shareholders.

Modern consumer cooperative provides many opportunities, including:

• quickly open a case and receive tax benefits;
• efficiency in business and property protection;
• doing many types of business without a license;
• no duties at the borders when transporting goods within the framework of projects in cooperation with the international cooperative alliance;
• management of housing and communal services of a multi-storey building;
• getting a loan quickly and at a low percentage.

How did it all start?

The first consumer cooperative was founded by weavers in 1769 in Scotland (Great Britain). He was engaged in selling flour to his participants at reduced prices, without intermediaries.

Consumer, credit and production cooperatives have been massively opened throughout Europe since the middle of the 19th century. They were an opportunity for survival in the difficult living conditions of the time and the only protection against dealers.

Legal and social base for cooperation was gradually formed. 1852 was marked by the adoption of the firstcooperation law in the UK.

An epoch-making event in history was the formation of the English Society of Righteous Rochdale Pioneers, which continues to flourish to this day. This founder of modern cooperation was founded in 1844 in Rochdale. 28 weavers set up the first cooperative food shop.

Rochdale principles (mutual aid, equality, average prices, one member, one vote) formed the basis of the cooperative movement.

Today, hundreds of cooperative organizations of various types are successfully operating in the world, with a total number of participants of at least one billion.

Citizens' cooperative and the basics of its work

The legislative foundation for organizing cooperative forms is laid down in the Constitution, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 116), in special laws: “On consumer cooperation…”, “On agricultural cooperation” and “On production cooperatives”.

The charter of a consumer cooperative, as the main founding document, regulates the work of a legal entity. In relation to a particular organization, it reveals the range of rights, obligations and responsibilities of participants, the composition of management bodies, the basics of financial activity, the economic and legal aspect.

In addition to information that is mandatory for a legal entity, the charter contains a decision on the size of share contributions and the features of their payment, the procedure for making decisions and covering possible losses. Profit from commercial and other activities is distributed in proportion to the contributedshare contribution participants.

The organization's debts become partially the responsibility of shareholders. The amount of commitments per participant cannot exceed the additional contribution not yet made.

Members of a consumer cooperative are not only citizens, but also organizations (in this case, the participation of two or more individuals is required).

Credit-consumer cooperation

The Law of the Russian Federation "On Credit Cooperation" became the legal basis for credit cooperatives in our country. A credit consumer cooperative is an association of citizens (organizations) to provide mutual support in terms of finance and lending.

Its main goal is to help the participants: those who do not have funds receive them, and those who want to have an income give funds at interest. The secondary goal is to make a profit.

The property base of a credit cooperative consists of contributions, income from activities, borrowed funds and other legal sources.

Loans are usually issued at a higher interest rate than in a bank, but the guarantee of obtaining a loan is higher. This enables the participants of the cooperative to have good dividends.

In general, credit cooperation contributes to strengthening financial security and obtaining stable incomes, if it is really a consumer credit cooperative. Feedback from contributors today is mixed. So, many people trust only banks, because scammers often hide under the guise of a cooperative organization.

How to choose honestcooperative, not a pyramid scheme?

1. The constituent documentation must necessarily indicate the legal form: non-profit organization, credit cooperative.
2. A citizen who joins a cooperative has a legal opportunity to study the constituent documents and the loan agreement. It is imperative to read the charter and the contract, if this is prevented, then most likely you are in a financial pyramid.
3. It is worth choosing an organization that has been operating for at least 2-3 years and is a member of the union of cooperatives.
4. Very high loan rates for shareholder members are also alarming. In addition, a real co-op will not offer benefits for "recruiting" new members.
5. High-profile advertising is not for a cooperative, as it is registered mainly to provide financial mutual assistance to a specific group of people.

Agricultural cooperation

The legal basis for agricultural cooperatives is the provisions of the Law on Agricultural Cooperation.

Agricultural consumer cooperative is established by both citizens and organizations. An important condition for them is involvement in agricultural production and other areas of the organization's work.

The consumer cooperative is a non-profit organization. The name "agricultural" allows you to invite agricultural producers to membership, and "consumer" to meet the needs.

There are quite a lot of varieties of agricultural cooperatives: enterprises that carry outprocessing, supply or marketing functions, agricultural services, lending and others.

Housing-building societies

The legislative base for housing and construction cooperation is the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 116) and the corresponding section in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

Housing consumer cooperative is a cooperation of participants (citizens or organizations) on a voluntary basis in order to solve housing problems, issues of improvement of an apartment building, room needs.

Housing (LC) and/or construction (HC) is a consumer cooperative and non-profit organization.

HBCs sell apartments in accordance with the Law “On Participation in Shared Construction of Apartment Buildings.”

Participants of this organization can be any persons, citizens (not less than 5 and not more than the total number of apartments), organizing it and sitting at the first meeting. The consumer residential complex obliges participants to pool funds for the maintenance of the house, and the construction one for the construction.

Consumer building cooperative operates on the basis of the charter. It contains information about the goals and objectives, the order of work, the entry of new participants, contributions, mutual responsibility, and the composition of the governing bodies. When joining the LCD, it is necessary to study the charter and consult with a lawyer, as well as pay attention to the amount of the contribution, the procedure for paying a share, the rights and obligations of the participants.

For non-fulfillment of obligations, that is, the complete non-payment of the contribution, shareholderis expelled from the organization and loses the apartment.

It is impossible to get around the fact that there are fraudulent associations among housing mortgage cooperatives, so you should choose an organization very meticulously, given the opinion of a lawyer.

Garage consumer cooperative

The law defining the legal basis of the Russian garage cooperation (GPC) has not yet been adopted. Laws on cooperation and non-profit organizations do not apply to this association.

Remains to be based on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the Law "On Cooperation in the USSR", which is still being applied in practice.

The Garage Consumer Cooperative is a non-profit organization, a membership association of citizens to meet the need for garages for vehicles.

The Charter of the CPC regulates the main issues of its work. It defines the sources of capital and the amount of contributions, property rights, conditions for entry and exit. A group of initiative citizens (except for the preparation of constituent documentation) draws up a lease for a site for garages, submits documentation to the land registration department.

The garage consumer cooperative is registered as a legal entity, registers with the tax office, receives settlement and personal bank accounts of participants.

When the constituent documents, cadastral passport and lease agreement are ready, you can proceed to registration with the state body. GPC enters into an agreement with a construction company.

3 stages of creating a cooperative

Registration requirements are regulated by the fourth chapterLaw "On State Registration of Legal Entities".

At least 5 citizens (at least 16 years old) and legal entities have the right to create an organization in consumer cooperation.

Creation stage	Procedure of actions
1. Formation of a group of initiative citizens	Idea, social activity plan, business plan. Preparation of constituent documents and meetings.
2. Holding a constituent assembly	Decision to form a cooperative organization and join the Union of Consumer Societies. Approval of the list of shareholders, charter and cost estimates of entrance fees. Selection of governing and supervisory bodies. Registration of the protocol.
3. Registration	Application, certificate of payment of the fee, minutes and documents approved at the meeting are submitted to the registration authority. The cooperative is considered valid from the moment of state registration.

Pros and cons of a consumer cooperative

Benefits	Flaws
Accrual of dividends in proportion to the participation of the shareholder, participation of each in the distribution of income	Probability of selecting incompetent leadership
Satisfying needs	Passivity of shareholders
Stable work and reliability of partners
Democratic elections of governing bodies
Transparency of finances and other performance data for each shareholder

Consumer cooperatives. Reviews

A study was conducted of the opinions of consumers and employees of the consumer cooperation system of Russia posted on the Internet (in several large cities and rural areas). As a result, a large number of negative reviews were revealed.

Thus, the population criticizes the raipo and consumer cooperation stores: mainly the culture of communication with customers, assortment, working conditions for sellers. They also talk about high prices (above the market average). Several complaints relate to store disruptions.

Many reviews note that the leadership of the local consumer cooperation "pulls the blanket" on itself: low wages, lack of motivation of employees, exploitation.

They also pay attention to the personnel issue: there are no young qualified specialists. The "aging" of the service personnel and management is noted. Many consumer cooperatives are in dire need of an infusion of new personnel.

Reviews with criticism are written about specific software and raipo, which cannot be said about the entire cooperative consumer system in Russia. There are cooperatives, raipos and unions that work in good faith.

Many entrepreneurs cooperate with credit cooperatives. Thank you for the opportunity to receive urgentcredit for transactions and other commercial needs. Celebrate quick paperwork without red tape.

Bribes people and attentive attitude on the part of employees, the ability to explain everything in an understandable language. Loans are taken for various purposes: to buy a car, to repair and equip a house, to study and expensive purchases. They save, for example, for vacation. It is also not uncommon for people to deposit money at interest in a credit and consumer cooperative.

Reviews about these institutions can be read on the official websites. Opinions about credit cooperatives that have a successful experience of 10 to 20 years were studied. It is they who inspire greater confidence among the population.

There are many cooperative organizations in all economic sectors in the West. Moreover, it is joint-stock and private companies that go bankrupt much more often. Why is Western cooperation flourishing, while in Russia it survives?

Obviously, we have yet to revise our attitude towards domestic cooperation and change it. The actual goals for the cooperative system should be the development of the manufacturing industry, the creation of new jobs and the provision of the population with everything necessary.