Lisa Bossons with MP Fiona Bruce and Graham Marshall our treasurer

The Congleton  Community Credit Union

Known locally as Congleton’s best kept secret, there is a local savings and loan cooperative, regulated and approved by The Financial Services Authority, for those who live or work in the CW12 area.

It celebrated its 16th birthday  in May 2011  and has been serving local people all that time.

The organisation is run by a board of volunteer directors made up of members elected at the AGM. None of them are paid and there are no perks for them as all profits come back to members in an annual dividend.

It does not have political or religious affiliations and welcomes people without prejudice. It’s just a group of local people looking out for each other.

Members save what they can afford on a regular basis and then if they need to they can borrow up to 3 times the amount they have saved. Repayments are planned within your budget so there are no risks of you being over stretched and getting into a spiral of debt (as people have done when using payday loans or even loan sharks.)

Interest on loans is low and members are encouraged to keep saving while repaying, so they always have some money building up in their account.

The more members the credit union has the more funds are available for others, so some members join just to be part of a great community initiative and do their bit for others while some use it as a vital lifeline to help ends meet.

Lisa Bossons  a Director said, ”I have used the Credit Union to pay for my Open University degree and have had a few loans at Christmas time in the past and even bought a new front door with a loan once.  I know some members use it for emergencies such as washing machine repairs or to pay an unexpected bill. I pay a set amount by standing order into my credit union savings account but a lot of people like to deposit money in person at the collection point.”

The collection point is staffed by volunteers on a Saturday morning between 10-11am on the ground floor of Congleton library.  Why not pop in and see what they do?

To find out more you can come to the collection point or ring Graham on 07504184902