What is a Credit Union?

Tuesday, 4th May 2021

Hello and welcome to our new blog – over the coming months I will introduce you to Darlington Credit Union, our products and our staff as well as answering some frequently asked questions about the financial sector.

Let me tell you a bit about us and how we operate - we are a community financial co-operative formed in 2009 following the merger of four smaller credit unions. Since then we have grown to serve the whole of the North East.

We are:

• not for profit
• a co-operative
• a community organisation
• a secure and ethical place for depositing savings
• an affordable and fair lender
• an educator

How we work:

1. Savings - members save with us
2. Loans – we pool the savings to offer our members affordable, low-cost loans
3. Interest – we generate income from the interest made on the loans
4. Costs – we use that income to cover our running costs
5. Dividend – any surplus is given back to our members in a dividend agreed at our Annual General Meeting.

Our members are joint owners of the Credit Union and have a say in how it is run. With no majority shareholders, there is no one person reaping all the profits. Instead they are shared out equally to our all members.

I hope you agree it is a refreshingly different way for a financial institution to run. I am certainly very proud to be the Chief Executive.

If you need a loan or want to set up a savings account please get in touch and find out how you can join us.

Tony Brockley, Chief Executive Darlington Credit Union