Tel: 01934 429573
Death of Mike Davies, Chair of the Board of Directors
We are very sad to announce that Mike Davies, who had been Chair of the Board of Directors since 2007, died recently.
Both our Orchard Street and Information Station branches will be closed on Tuesday 21st February as all staff and Directors will be attending his funeral. We are aiming to re-open in Orchard Street at 12.30pm and will remain open until 4pm.
16/02/12
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Extended telephone answering hours
From today we are extending the hours during which we'll be answering calls to our 01934 429573 number. The new hours are 9.30am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. This is a significant increase from our old times of 10am to 3pm Tuesday to Thursday.
When you call now between 9.30am and 4pm you will hear a new message saying you'll be put through to one of our staff shortly. This is not the answer machine so please don't hang up!
9th February 2012
Credit Unions to benefit from changes to the law
New laws came into force on January 8th which will allow credit unions to expand significantly and become serious competitors to banks, building societies and other financial organisations including payday lenders.
To take advantage of the new laws our credit union has to make some changes to its Rules, but these must first be approved by the Members at the forthcoming AGM on March 14th. Please look out for your AGM invitation in the post or on e-mail in the next couple of weeks. If approved, the changes will allow us to offer rates of interest instead of a yearly dividend, offer membership and savings accounts to organisations and widen the geographical area in which we operate.
In the meantime there has been some good publicity for credit unions. The Mirror ran a feature in which Kent
Savers Credit Union member Debbie was a case study.
That article can be viewed here - http://www.mirror.co.uk/advice/money/2012/01/11/greedy-banks-beware-credit-unions-are-fairer-alternative-115875-23693646/
Martin Lewis’ Moneysavingexpert.com email (which
goes out to nearly 7 million people) also featured credit unions on Wednesday
11th January. .
Last weekend coverage included an article in the Mail on Sunday - http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/money/saving/article-2086767/Major-boost-credit-unions-clip-payday-lenders-wings.html
and an article in the Herald - http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/business/personal-finance/new-rules-help-credit-unions-extend-reach.16445940
National Move Your Money Day
Our Orchard Street branch wil be open on Friday 2nd December for new account opening and enquiries from 12am to 6pm. It's been designated as Move Your Money Day following a similar event in the USA, where up to 650,000 people joined a credit union after Bank of America imposed charges on debit card use.
If you wish to open an account then please bring two forms of ID and your £2.50 joining fee. You'll also need £2.50 to put into your account. There's information about the event on our Facebook page or at www.moveyourmoney.org.uk
The Information Station
The Credit Union has now moved out of the Money Advice Centre on the Bournville in Weston-super-Mare and will be operating out of a new building called The Information Station. Our Orchard Street branch remains unaffected.
The Information Station is a community hub and will be shared by three organisations, Alliance Homes, westonworks and North Somerset Credit Union. You will find the new opening times and contact details in our 'Opening Times' section.
Text 80011 for your Balance!
Members can now text the Credit Union for their account balances. Simply text the word BALANCE with your membership number and password to 80011. If you haven't got a password set up with us then please phone to arrange this. Texts to the Credit Union will be charged at your provider's normal rate but you won't be charged for the text we send back to you. If you have any questions then please contact us.
Services in Portishead
Our Service Point in Portishead Children's Centre is closed from 1st July for a summer break. It will re-open from Wednesday 5th October 2011.
From September 24th we will be trialling a new Service point from Portishead Library on Harbour Road. It will run from 10am to 11.30am on Saturday mornings. Please visit the website again nearer the time for more details.
2% Dividend Paid to Members
At last week's AGM the members voted to approve the proposed 2% dividend on savings accounts for the year ended 30/9/10. The dividend has now been added to all eligible accounts.
A reminder that, as the law currently stands, we are unable to offer interest on savings. Rather, we offer a dividend based on the trading surplus we generate in the year concerned. In 2008/9 we paid 0.5% and 1% for both 2007/8 and 2006/7.
AGM on 23rd February 2011
Members should have now received their invitations to the Annual General Meeting. We would be delighted to see you there. It is an opportunity to meet the Board of Directors, staff and volunteers of the Credit Union and to find out more about our work.
You can download
2008/9 AGM Draft Minutes
2009/10 Annual Report
Please remember that the Accounts and Minutes from Annual General Meetings are draft until approved by members at the AGM.
The event starts at 7pm (refreshments from 6.30pm) on Wednesday 23rd February at the Badger Centre, 3-6 Wadham Street, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1JY.
New Article
Our New Website Goes Live...
Welcome to our new website. Members can now register for a PIN and view their accounts on-line. The transaction data will be updated every morning so members should be able to see their most recent transactions. Other new features available on the site include;
- an on-line joining facility for people are unable to visit us in person
- a facility for existing members to apply for a loan on-line
We will be adding to the contents of the website in due course and will be promoting new products as they become available. In the meantime if you have any comments or questions about the website then please get in touch.
Have you got news for us?
Send us your news and views so that we can keep our news current and up-to-date. If you have any other queries or comments we would be delighted to hear from you at any time.
