WITH the Archbishop of Canterbury criticising ‘payday’ loan companies, the spotlight has been firmly put on a local community alternative, credit unions.
And here in Frome, the town has its own credit union facility, which is available from the library every week.
While payday and similar lenders offer short-term loans, often with a extremely high rates of interest, credit unions instead give people the chance to borrow money at competitive rates as well as to save ethically.
Last week, the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Reverend Justin Welby, declared war on online and payday lenders, saying the Church of England would help credit unions to expand and compete head on against payday lenders
He was later embarrassed to learn that the Church of England invests indirectly in online lender Wonga, but was quick to point out that this was a situation which he would look to change.
Locally, Mendip Community Credit Union can be found at Frome Library every Saturday from 10am-12.00noon. The union is run entirely by volunteers, and explains that unions “enable people in a community to come together to save ethically and to borrow money at competitive rates.”
Kim Robinson, treasurer of Mendip Community Credit Union explains, “What we would try to get away from is the instant ‘I must have money now’ culture. Credit unions are in a sense quite old fashioned; you save before you borrow. We only lend when we are as convinced as we can be that the person can afford to pay us back.”
You can find out more about Mendip Community Credit Union at www.mendipcommunitycu.org.uk or call 0800 622 6036.
