PCCU hits three more milestones

Saving and loan milestones remind PCCU of its place in community

Three milestones were reached this week at Pennine Community Credit Union. As collective savings reached £6 million for the first time, our staff issued the 34,000th loan to an account holder and our overall lending to the community surpassed £50 million since 1982. It served as a pleasing reminder that the services we provide to the community continue to be much needed.

The collective savings balance is especially pleasing at a time when savings levels in the UK are at some of their lowest since the 1960’s, August 2018’s statistics suggest 36% of UK households have no savings at all. When PCCU was formed in 1982 as a Savers Group, before becoming Nelson Community Credit Union, one of the main aims was to promote thrift and provide a safe place to save.

Savings are a vital component in the running of a Credit Union. Whilst some account holders use PCCU to build savings, behind the scenes we use the collective pool of savings to issue affordable loans to the community at competitive rates of interest.

This is ‘People helping People’ in action, it really is win-win for the community with access to safe savings and affordable loans.

The second milestone is proof that the Credit Union model works. Roberta, PCCU’s Members Services Co-ordinator, processed our 34,000th loan earlier this week! We work extremely hard to assess affordability on every loan we grant to the community, it is a credit to every member of staff, board and volunteer that has enabled PCCU to reach the final milestone as we have now lent over £50 million since 1982.

At PCCU we promote the ‘Save as you Borrow’ Credit Union method, which means with every loan repayment a loan balance decreases and at the same time a small amount is added to the borrowers saving balance.

Many things have changed since we were created by 15 saving pioneers in 1982. With three town centre branches, 15 members of staff and the ability to manage accounts online or via the telephone.

Two things that has never changed at PCCU