Another busy week at HEYCU! (ending 20 March)

Our week to 20 March

East Riding of Yorkshire Financial Inclusion Forum

On Tuesday John (CEO) and Carmel attended this event at County Hall.  The theme was Young People, the issues related to money that they face and the projects/support available to them. Our presentation on the roll out of our Pennies 2 Pounds school banks was very well received.  Other presentations were from the Money Advice Service, Hull & East Riding CAB, The Warren Young People’s project and Humber & Wolds Rural Community Council.

HEYCU Board of Directors

We had another positive Board meeting on Tuesday evening with updates on the North Lincolnshire Credit Union merger, Credit Union Transformation Programme and a proposal to trial a start-up business lending scheme.   More details available soon.

Hull People’s Premium

John and Juliana (Quids In Project Officer) were in Hull Guildhall for the launch of Hull People's Premium on Wednesday.  Councillor John Hewitt spoke at the launch, saying the People’s Premium is like a “Hull residents club” of people who are interested in learning more about ways to make the most of their money.   It’s a completely free service and to join all you need to do is text HPP to 60999.  You will then receive free texts from time to time making you aware of special offers such as our Credit Union’s Christmas Saver £10 matched bonus campaign, details of energy switching deals and other ways for Hull residents to make their money go further.

The Chancellor’s Budget

Budgets generally contain a mixture of good and bad news, depending on your personal circumstances and no doubt your political views.  But one piece of good news in this year’s budget was for savers.  From April 2016, basic rate taxpayers will not pay any tax on the first £1,000 of income they receive from their savings. Higher rate taxpayers won’t not pay tax on the first £500.

This means many credit union members will not have to pay tax on the dividend they receive from us. Banks and building societies will no longer deduct tax at source when they pay interest to their savers. 

HEYCU Chief Executive John Smith welcomes this, saying: “This is good news for our credit union and its 12,000 savers, as the dividends our members receive on their credit union savings will, in most cases, be tax free. This provides everyone with a further incentive to save regularly for planned and unplanned expenses.

“It is also very welcome to see the playing field levelled between banks, building societies and credit unions, as the other providers will no longer be offering a service – tax deduction at source – that credit unions cannot. Our trade association, ABCUL, has long called for the removal of this barrier for Britain’s credit unions, and this equal treatment will help them compete in the savings market, where they already manage over £1 billion in members’ shares.”

Voluntary & Community Sector Meeting

On Thursday John attended a meeting of the City Plan’s Voluntary & Community Sector group and heard an interesting presentation on the way the new City of Culture team plan to involve a wide range of groups and organisations in the City of Culture 2017 programme.  It all sounds very exciting and I am sure what is being planned will leave a lasting legacy of benefit for our great city.

A visit to our communications agency, Fox, to plan three exciting member recruitment campaigns to be launched in the spring, rounded off another hectic but fruitful week at the Credit Union.

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