DEVON, U.K.–A group of housing associations in southwestern United Kingdom is working to help residents build financial stability by partnering with a credit unions to offer affordable loans and savings products.
Nine different landlords are involved in the effort, which targets more than 150,000 homes in the southwest, according to DevinLive.
According to the report, the new Credit Union Sustainability Partnership (CUSP) involves a three-year deal with Westcountry Savings & Loan (WS&L).
‘A Real Difference’
“We are delighted to be working with Westcountry Savings and Loans and look forward to making a real difference to communities we serve across the region,” Martyn Gimber, chair of the CUSP partnership and CEO of North Devon Homes CEO told DevinLive. “We aim to encourage better awareness of the benefits of using a not-for profit credit union for savings and loans rather than turning to high interest commercial lenders and loan sharks. I am excited to bring together all aspects of the work of our landlord partners, their staff, customers and their contractors as a true collaboration that will bring enormous benefit to so many for years to come”.
The organization said by encouraging people to use the credit union, it is then able to “recycle all the money” from interest earned and savings deposited with them back into providing affordable loans and savings products for the local community.
‘An Important Feature’
“This co-operative relationship is an important feature of a credit union and is exactly aligned with the aims of non-profit community landlords and why the partnership is so important to helping to support financial stability across the region,” DevinLive reported. “Many commercial lenders target social housing customers and charge extremely high interest rates which has a huge impact on household budgets.”
What Growing Numbers Reveal
“Our growing membership numbers tell us that the services Westcountry Savings & Loans provides are as in-demand today across the region as ever,” Jackie Simpson, CEO of WS&L, told DevinLive. “By partnering with housing providers across the South West, we are extending our reach further into local communities and ensuring that households who really stand to benefit from our loans and savings products know there are alternatives to high-interest lenders. This has long been one of our key aims and is something I look forward to building on with our CUSP partners in the coming years.”
lenders such as loan sharks who also prey on people who are already in debt or are vulnerable resulting in even more hardship.”
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