We ask all members to save at least £10 per month.  If you work for one of our payroll partner employers such as The Co-op, you can save by payroll deduction.  This is a really simple and easy way to get into a savings habit – just tell us how much you’d like to save and we’ll take care of the rest.  After a couple of pay days you’ll be used to saving and the money will start to build up quickly.

If you don’t work for a partner employer, you can also save by Direct Debit or standing order.  Let us know how you’d like to save and we’ll give you all the details of how to get started.  Whichever way you choose, we do everything we can to take the pain out of saving.

All savings held in the credit union attract a dividend.  The dividend rate is paid based on the credit union’s financial performance and market conditions.  It is not agreed in advance, but proposed and voted on at the AGM every January.  In 2022, the credit union paid 0.4%, in 2021, the credit union paid 0.25% and in 2020 we paid 1% . We always aim to pay as much as we can reasonably afford to.

We have a number of employers that we work with to provide their employees with payroll deduction facilities to make managing your money as easy as possible.  The employers we have these facilities with are:

The Co-op Group

The Co-op Academies Trust

MidCounties Co-op

Southern Co-op

The Co-operative Bank

2 Sisters Food Group

Usdaw

Co-ops UK

The Association of British Credit Unions Limited

Charities Aid Foundation

If you don’t work for one of these employers, you can still save and borrow with the credit union and we have a number of options for making payments:

Direct Debit – collected on the first of every month, or the next working day thereafter if the first falls on a weekend or bank holiday

Standing Order – gives you flexibility as you can pay on a date that suits you and change the amount you pay directly with your bank

Child Benefit – we allow parent members to pay their Child Benefit directly into their credit union account, this gives you the option to borrow using the Family Loan as well as saving.

All members have a Regular Share account which is their main membership savings account.  This is where most members keep their savings.  However, if you want to put money aside for a particular reason, we can create as many saving “pots” as you would like to create.  We can give these names referring to the particular saving reason – e.g. Christmas, holiday or wedding etc. – and we can work with you to set up your savings contributions into each account according to your priorities.

When you have a loan, your Regular Shares account is always tied to the loan so that your savings are not available to withdraw while you have a loan balance greater than your savings balance.  However, we can create a Special Shares account alongside your Regular Shares if you want to add to some of your savings with the ability to access them when you need to.

If you work for one of our payroll partner employers such as The Co-op, you can save by payroll deduction.  This is a really simple and easy way to get into a savings habit – just tell us how much you’d like to save and we’ll take care of the rest.  After a couple of pay days you’ll be used to saving and the money will start to build up quickly.

If you don’t work for a partner employer, you can also save by Direct Debit, standing order or using your Child Benefit.  Let us know how you’d like to use and we’ll give you all the details of how to get started.  Whichever way you choose, we do everything we can to take the pain out of saving.

As well as your regular saving, you can always add to your savings account with extra one-off payments made to our bank account.  Simply drop us a line and ask for the bank account details to make your payment.