Manchester Credit Union - Wythenshawe branch
Manchester Credit Union offers a savings and loan service. Membership is open to all who live or work in Manchester. For further information, visit www.manchestercreditunion.co.uk, or contact us on 0161 436 2347, email: info@manchestercreditunion.co.uk
Our branch is based at 1st floor, Alderman Gatley House, Wythenshawe Town Centre. We are open 11am-3pm, Monday-Friday.
The First Credit Unions
The first cooperative was organised in 1844 by a group of workers in Rochdale, England. That same year in Germany, Victor Aime Huber developed some of the early European cooperative theories. The idea of credit societies was a part of this effort.
Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen created the first true credit unions in Germany in 1852 and 1864. In 1849, Raiffeisen founded a credit society in Flammersfeld, but it depended on the charity of wealthy men for its support. In 1864, Raiffeisen organised a new credit union along principles still fundamental today.
Germany's credit societies and similar institutions that Luigi Luzzatti founded in Italy were the forerunners of today's large cooperative "banks" in Europe.
Credit unions provide loans at rates of interest below those charged by high-street banks. And it is easier to obtain a loan from a credit union than from a bank.
Refused loans from high-street banks for essential living expenses, the needy borrower too often falls victim to loan sharks, to money-lenders charging high rates of interest. Those with the lowest incomes usually have to pay the highest interest charges.
So credit unions are a lifeline for those in need, for those who often need to borrow small amounts to keep going till their next payment arrives. A source of funds in an emergency for the needy borrower, credit unions also offer a cheap form of borrowing, say for paying for a holiday or for buying a car.
Credit unions are financial co-operatives and are in effect community banks. The owners of a credit union are its individual members and it is run for the benefit of its members. Its members pool their savings to provide loans at favourable rates of interest.
Credit unions are started, and mainly run, by volunteers, at least while still small. Many credit unions are small, based on neighbourhood or local church community, but some are very big.
Each member has one vote regardless of the amount of his savings or the size of his loans. Policy is decided, and officers are elected, at an annual meeting.
Each member pays a small joining fee and saves regularly with the credit union. Any surplus after paying expenses and adding to reserves is distributed to members. A member may get a fixed rate of interest on his savings or he may get a fixed rate of interest plus a dividend which distributes any remaining surplus.
After saving regularly for a qualifying period, borrowers may take out loans of up to 1.5 per cent of the credit union's funds on top of the value of their own savings.
It is often a legal requirement that each credit union needs to have a 'Common Bond of membership', each member living in the same area, or working for the same employer, or being a member of a trade union, or of some other special interest group. It has been said that credit unions have a low defaulting rate because of the common bond between members.