A lot of people dont realise what credit unions are, do you ?
I am in two credit unions, one was from my time in the police and the other is the local credit union were i live. i have been a member of each for about 5 years.
I live in a private house, mine yeahhhh! at last...sorry but we lived in a concrete flat with noisy neighbours. I needed initally to start to save for the deposit on my house. now im not on a lot of money, i have a retirement pension which produces a small income. We wanted to buy our own house, to be honest if you saw where we lived so would you. I knew that if i put money in the bank i would dip into it so i needed it locked away but easy access in case i needed it for a house.
The area that i live in is a credit union area, volunteers make up staff
and its basically run like a bank. you save what you want each week whether it be 50p or £200. they sign your book. It sometimes takes a day or two to get your money out, but this was brilliant for me as when i wanted the money, i got it elsewhere and it stayed in the credit union.
In my local credit union, you have to save for 10 weeks out of 13 weeks and then you can apply for a loan. the first loan is always two above what you have got saved up. You go for an interview, which we normally spend laughing and joking, sign the forms and then thats all you can do. This then goes in front of a committee, they say yeah or nay! they dont say nay often. The committee is secrete so that theres no recriminations on any one. You learn your decision that night, in ours if you dont get a phone call youve got it.... you pick up the cheque on monday, if its under 500 pounds you can cash it at the local post office, if its over 500 you go to the co-op bank in town and cash it. Or you can put it in your bank.
Credit Unions are very handy for people who are on low incomes and cant get loans off the bank or for people on benefits who dont have a bank account. It helps all sorts of people.
You get a good return on your investment. Last year our credit union did really well and we all got 4% interest on our savings which was brilliant.
They are also governed by the government so if someone decidely ran off with all the money then your insured. Also all the loans are covered by insurance as well so if you disabled or made redundant it covers this.
Why pick a credit union, well first of all these came into place to take out the loan sharks who would take peoples bits and pieces or benefit books off them and charge them astronomical rates. Also it stops people like sorry to mention the names like provident who if you borrow £500 over a year charge you £300 for the pleasure... The credit union would charge you approximately £40 to cover its cost and insurance. the aprs on credit unions cannot usually be beaten by the banks or the rates they pay you on savings unless your really quite rich and have loads of money in the bank which to be honest not many of us do.
the other benefits of it depending on which credit union you are in is, if say for instance i die today, then my loan is paid off and the money that i have in savings go to whom i decide. Also some credit unions also double the money you have saved.
A friend of mine recently passed away and his family never liked him and never kept in contact with him. He was a nice old gentleman and he told me how much he had in the credit union one day. After he had passed away his family became very interested in his savings. when they got there they found he had left all his money to the dogs home where his dog would have been kennelled at for his life. Needless to say his family werent impressed, but i could just imagine him smiling as he thought the world of his dog as it was his only companion.
Now i said im in two credit unions, one is work based and you dont have to save your money in that one whilst repaying back but this is not the norm.
Disadvantages, ok so it might take me a day or two to get my money and you are compelled to save and pay but its great because for the first time in my life i am saving a little money for a rainy day.
I would recommend them to anyone who is working or not working, put 50p a week away it soon grows and you can have it coming out of your banks as well into your account there.
thanks for reading
karen :0)
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Very informative op. I think Credit Unions are a great idea I only wish they had been around when I was a lad in the fifties, my dad left when I was about 5yrs old.
My mum had to take out loans for my school clothes and xmas presents at rip off interest rates.The loan companies such as Provident were mentioned on the news recently some were charging 500%. :{ KR Dave
Advantages: Low cost loans for regular savers, free insurance on both savings and loans. Disadvantages: Maximum repayment for loans is 3years and car loans 5 years
kimberley13 30.10.2003 ·
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Review of Credit Unions
Advantages: Low cost loans for regular savers, free insurance on both savings and loans. Disadvantages: Maximum repayment for loans is 3years and car loans 5 years
kimberley13 30.10.2003 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Credit Unions
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