What is a consumer cooperative? Credit and Consumer Cooperative

"Cooperation is a global system that

unites millions of shareholders worldwide

(K.P. Dyachenko)

Consumer cooperation makes it possible to carry out entrepreneurship within the free economic zone and receive tax benefits. The relevance of cooperative legal forms is becoming increasingly apparent. Why? What types of cooperation exist? 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, the 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 combining units or contributions.

The consumer cooperative of citizens has the right not to be limited to one direction of activity and to “saturate” not only the needs of the material plan, but also of a social, cultural and socio-economic nature.

The 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.

A modern consumer cooperative provides many opportunities, including:

• quick opening of a business and obtaining tax benefits;
• effective business management and guarantees of property protection;
• conducting many types of business without licensing;
• lack of duties at the borders when transporting goods as part of projects in cooperation with an international cooperative alliance;
• housing and communal services management of a multi-storey building;
• obtaining a loan quickly and at a small percentage.

How did it all start?

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

Consumer, credit and production cooperatives have been massively opened throughout Europe since the mid-19th century. They were an opportunity to survive in the harsh living conditions of the time and the only protection against resellers.

Gradually, a legislative and social basis for cooperation was formed. The year 1852 was marked by the adoption of the first law on cooperation in the UK.

An epochal event in history was the formation of the English "Society of Fair Rochdale Pioneers," which continues to flourish. This founder of modern cooperation was founded in 1844 in Rochdale. 28 weavers organized the first cooperative food store.

Rochdale principles (mutual assistance, equality, average prices, one participant - one vote) formed the basis of the cooperative movement.

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

Cooperative of citizens and the basics of his work

The legislative foundation for organizations of 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 constituent document, regulates the work of a legal entity. In relation to a specific organization, it discloses the range of rights, duties and responsibilities of participants, the composition of management bodies, the basics of financial activity, the economic and legal aspect.

In addition to information obligatory for a legal entity, the charter contains a decision on the size of shares and the features of their contribution, the procedure for making decisions and covering possible losses. Profit as a result of commercial and other activities is distributed in proportion to the share contribution made by the participants.

The debts of the organization are partly the responsibility of the shareholders. The amount of obligations for each participant may not exceed the unpaid additional contribution.

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

Credit and consumer cooperation

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

Its main goal is the mutual assistance of participants: those who do not have funds receive them, and those who want to have income give money at interest. A secondary goal is to make a profit.

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

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

In general, credit cooperatives help strengthen financial security and generate stable income, if it is truly a consumer credit cooperative. Feedback from investors today is mixed. So, many trust only banks, because fraudsters often hide under the guise of a cooperative organization.

How to choose an honest cooperative, not a financial pyramid?

1. The constituent documentation must necessarily indicate the legal form: non-profit organization, credit cooperative.
2. A citizen joining a cooperative has a legal opportunity to study the constituent documents and the loan agreement. It is necessary to read the charter and the contract, if this is hindered, then most likely you are in the financial pyramid.
3. The organization that has been operating for at least 2-3 years and is part of the cooperatives union is worth choosing.
4. Very high lending rates for member members are also alarming. In addition, in this cooperative they will not offer benefits for the “recruitment” of new participants.
5. High-profile advertising is not for a cooperative, as it is registered mainly for mutual financial assistance in a specific group of people.

Agricultural cooperation

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

An agricultural consumer cooperative is established by both citizen participants and organizations. An important condition for them is involvement in agricultural production and other areas of the organization.

A 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 a lot of varieties of agricultural cooperatives: enterprises that carry out processing, supply or marketing functions, agricultural services, lending, and others.

Housing cooperatives

The legislative framework 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.

A consumer housing cooperative is a collaboration of participants (citizens or organizations) on a voluntary basis with the aim of solving housing problems, the improvement of an apartment building, and the need for a room.

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

Housing cooperatives sell apartments in accordance with the Law “On participation in shared construction of apartment buildings”.

Any person, citizen (no less than 5 and no more than the total number of apartments) who organize it and sit at the first meeting can become participants in this organization. Consumer housing and communal services oblige participants to combine funds for house maintenance, and construction - for construction.

Consumer building society operates on the basis of the charter. It contains information on goals and objectives, the order of work, the entry of new participants, contributions, mutual responsibility, on the composition of the governing bodies. Upon joining the housing complex, 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 payment of the share, rights and obligations of participants.

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

We cannot ignore the fact that fraudulent associations also operate among housing mortgage cooperatives, so choosing an organization is very meticulous, given the opinion of a lawyer.

Garage consumer cooperative

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

It remains to rely on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the Law on Cooperation in the USSR, which to this day is applied in practice.

Garage consumer cooperative is a non-profit organization, a membership association of citizens to meet the need for garages for transport.

The Charter of the Civil Procedure Code regulates the main issues of its work. It defines the sources of capital and the amount of contributions, property rights, terms of 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 office for registration of land plots.

Garage consumer cooperative is registered as a legal entity, gets registered 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 a state body. GPK concludes an agreement with a construction company.

3 stages of creating a cooperative

Registration requirements are regulated by the fourth chapter of the Law “On state registration of legal entities”.

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

Pros and cons of the consumer cooperative

Consumer cooperatives. Reviews

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

Thus, the population criticizes district stores and consumer cooperation stores: mainly the culture of communication with customers, the assortment, and working conditions for sellers. They also talk about high prices (above average market prices). A few complaints concern violations of the store’s opening hours.

Many reviews indicate that the leadership of local consumer cooperation “pulls the blanket” over itself: low wages, lack of employee motivation, exploitation.

Pay attention to the personnel issue: there are no young qualified specialists. There is a "aging" of staff and management staff. In the infusion of new personnel, many consumer cooperatives are in dire need.

Reviews with criticism are written about specific software and Raipo, which cannot be said about the entire cooperative consumer system of Russia. There are cooperatives, district organizations and unions working in good faith.

Many entrepreneurs cooperate with credit cooperatives. Thank you for the opportunity to get an urgent loan for transactions and other commercial needs. They note a quick paperwork without red tape.

Bribes people and attentive attitude on the part of employees, the ability to explain everything in a clear language. Loans are taken for different purposes: to buy a car, to repair and equip a house, to study and expensive purchases. Save up, for example, to rest. Also, often people put interest-bearing money in a credit and consumer cooperative.

Reviews of these institutions can be found on the official websites. Opinions about credit cooperatives that have had successful experience of 10 to 20 years have been investigated. They are the ones that cause more confidence among the population.

In all economic sectors in the West there are many cooperative organizations. And much more often they are ruined by joint-stock and private companies. Why is Western cooperation flourishing, but surviving in Russia?

Obviously, we still have to reconsider our attitude to domestic cooperation and change it. The urgent 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.