Honiton: a new credit union

This is from the Transition Town Honiton site:

A new credit union in Honiton

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Sharon Pavey
Article by Transition Town Honiton Steering Group member Sharon Pavey

One of our aims here at Transition Town Honiton is to be more fully aware of the reasons for and the effects of the economic crisis in our local community. We agreed to work as a group to stimulate and initiate actions to increase our communities resilience to those changes. I’m very pleased therefore to announce that the Plough & Share Credit Union is opening a service point in Honiton on Monday June 3rd 2013. I am one of the initial group of volunteers that underwent two days of training last week and I am very excited about just what this means for our town.

First of all though I need to let you know where our new branch is based so you can come and chat to the friendly volunteers about what services this new ‘people’s bank’ offers you. It will be open every Monday afternoon from 1pm – 3pm at the TRIP shop on New Street.

Having a credit union here in Honiton means different things to different people. It means we have the option to use an alternative to the High Street banks. Our Plough & Share Credit Union is Devon wide and is a co-operative owned by it’s members. The mission of the Plough & Share Credit Union is to work towards the financial inclusion of all (refreshing words in these days of economic chaos!).

You can save with the credit union and you can take out loans at affordable rates – avoiding high charges on credit cards, loan sharks and dodgy payday loan websites that charge up to 4000% ! People who might not normally be able to get a bank account will be able to open a savings account with the credit union and people who might struggle to get a loan may be more likely to find a solution with their credit union (no promises though but the volunteers can help you with your application).

I’m looking forward to setting up savings accounts for the children that they can manage themselves and setting up my own savings account to save for a holiday or special event. We do need more volunteers too – and each volunteer might only do one shift (2 hours) every month so it’s not a lot to commit to. Get in touch if you’re interested in helping sdpavey@gmail.com and please do pop along one Monday afternoon if you’re out and about in town – to say hello and give us some moral support.

2 THOUGHTS ON “A NEW CREDIT UNION IN HONITON”

richard henderson on 06/06/2013 at 11:36 am said:

Hello i am the personal banker at Barclays in Honiton i have heard about your great new credit union . In the course of my day to day business i have many customer for whom the main stream forms of lending are not an option and they find themselves in a real jam as most are on a low income ! Unfortunately more often than not they go to pay day lenders and get ripped off , it would help me a lot to know a bit more about you and what you can do so i can guild my customers to you appropriately, it would be fantastic if you could spare us some time to come in and give a talk to my team about this ? yours sincerely Richard Henderson 

Sharon Pavey on 06/06/2013 at 11:59 am said:

Thanks Richard – we have passed this on to the Credit Union volunteers who should be in touch soon.



Honiton Service point now open 
at Trip Transport Community, New Street, Honiton 1-3pm every Monday
Plough and Share Credit Union

The Credit Union “Mission Statement”
The Mission of the Plough & Share Credit Union is to work towards the financial inclusion of all. To achieve this Plough & Share is committed to providing a broad range of innovative financial products supported by the dedicated service of volunteers and professional staff. These products will be administered in accordance with sound management practices to maintain the financial strength of the Credit Union. The Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the Credit Union hereby affirm that the efforts of Plough & Share will be consistently and professionally dedicated to the accomplishment of this mission.
A Credit Union is a democratic, financial co-operative owned and controlled by its own members. Each Credit Union is run only to benefit its members, all of whom have something in common - the common bond.

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