Council backs credit unions

Rossendale Council is encouraging anyone who lives or works in the borough to borrow through credit unions instead of high interest money lender sites.

Credit unions are community savings and loan cooperatives, where members pool their savings to lend to one another. They are organisations that are run by their members for the benefit of the members.

The plea comes after the Council signed up to fairquid, an online platform that puts Council employees in touch with local credit unions. The platform also allows loan repayments to be automatically deducted from employees’ salaries.

Councillor Alyson Barnes, leader of the Council and a keen advocate of credit unions, said:

“These are tough times for people and I hear worrying stories all the time of people falling into debt and using very high interest pay day loan companies or worse, borrowing off loan sharks to just make ends meet. It’s very frightening to fall into so much debt and has, in some cases, ended in tragedy.

“I wanted this Council to play its part and tell people there is an alternative which offers both fair and ethical financial services and also benefits the wider community.

“We have several good credit unions in the area and would urge people to think about using them.

“I am really pleased we are able to offer our employees this online platform as well as it shows our commitment to credit unions.”

Find out more about credit unions in Rossendale