Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Affordable Credit comes to Rochdale thanks to Housing Providers

by Ethos public relations

A Partnership between ALMO Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), Riverside Housing and Manchester Credit Union (MCU) has seen the introduction of affordable credit to the borough of Rochdale.

MCU recently obtained permission from the Financial Services Authority to extend its common bond to cover the Rochdale area and RBH and Riverside have become key stakeholders and partners.

Angela Havens Financial Inclusion Manager for RBH said:  “We have worked closely with the Council to look at how people on low incomes can access affordable credit.  There has been an explosion of high interest lenders in the borough and without any alternative means of accessing credit we are seeing more and more people approach our team for debt advice.”

Rochdale Council commissioned Salford University to do research into financial exclusion and affordable credit and the subsequent report highlighted the need for a community credit union in Rochdale.

Naila Ilyas said: “The research highlighted several financial exclusion issues in the borough including fuel poverty, financial literacy and the lack of affordable credit and the fact that the borough is losing £1.4m every year to expensive lenders.   Therefore Manchester Credit Union’s expansion in the borough is important because it marks the first but a major step in our co-ordinated approach to address these issues in our local communities.”

RBH and Riverside have provided financial support to help MCU expand into Rochdale and set up a separate branch in the borough.  Both housing organisations will promote MCU services to their residents and RBH will have a seat of the MCU Board.

Christine Moore from MCU is excited at the credit unions expansion.  “We have been established for 20 years and Rochdale has been a part of our growth strategy for some time now.  The financial support offered by RBH and Riverside means we can commence our Rochdale operation much faster than we had anticipated.”

Both the unemployment rate and the number of people out of work and claiming benefit in Rochdale is higher than the regional and national average which means there is a great demand for affordable credit.

MCU will provide a variety of savings products, affordable loan products, budgeting and bill payment account, family protection plans, loan protection and life savings insurance as well as offering money guidance sessions and debt advice.

Sharon Thomas from Riverside adds:  “We are pleased to be able to help bring much needed affordable credit to Rochdale.  MCU will be plugging a significant gap and in order to offer an accessible service to everyone living and working in the borough it will operate from a number of key locations each day.”

As well as social housing residents MCU will be looking to attract a wide range of customers and will be working with key employers like RBH, the Council and the NHS to encourage its employees to sign up to MCU services using a payroll deduction scheme.

“We hope to see a significant reduction in people using high interest service providers which have recently take a foothold in the town,” said Angela.  “We believe demand for the services of a credit union is such that the Rochdale branch will be entirely self financing by year three.  In the meantime, we are pleased to have been able to help get the ball rolling in Rochdale.”

Posted at 11^th July 2011