JOHN’S BLOG – DECEMBER 2020

We’ve had an extremely busy autumn season here at HEY Credit Union, so here’s an update for you on what we’ve been up to:

 

OUR THRIFTY CHRISTMAS SAVERS    

This year’s Christmas will be very different for many of us, but one thing won’t have changed.  Ever since 2007, we’ve been helping our members to lock funds away safely for the festive season in our popular Christmas Saver account.  Despite temporarily unlocking the accounts this spring and summer to help those who were impacted by the pandemic, over 1,300 of our members managed to save up £869,644 this time round, and we started paying them out on 2 November.  If you haven’t had a Christmas Saver before, now is the ideal time to start one for 2021.  It’s worth noting that no major bank offers anything like it.

FIRST EVER VIRTUAL AGM A BIG SUCCESS   

A lifetime in the Co-operative Movement has taught me the importance of the Annual General Meeting (AGM), where the members we serve can hold their directors and managers to account, ask challenging questions and cast their votes on various important topics.   Our traditional December AGM, held in the impressive setting of Hull’s historic Guildhall, is a highlight of my Credit Union year and I know many of our members feel the same.  We were therefore a little nervous about switching to an online alternative this year but, given the rules restricting large gatherings, there was little choice.   We needn’t have worried.   Although the directors and I missed seeing our members in person very much, we had some great feedback from those who logged on to our first ever virtual AGM on 8 December. I was especially pleased that we had members join in from every one of the seven towns where we have a branch, and even from Scotland!

A big thank you to Jackie from the ABCUL Virtual AGM Service, who hosted and administered the meeting superbly! We can thoroughly recommend the service to any credit union planning an AGM. 

 

REVIEW OF THE YEAR  

At an AGM, our directors report to our members on how the past year has gone and set out their plans for the future.   We’ve produced a quick-read summary here of our 2020 Annual Report.

   

COMMUNITY DONATIONS

On moving to a virtual AGM, we decided to donate the funds normally budgeted for the AGM room booking, members’ buffet tea, printed materials and so on, to a selection of organisations who support vulnerable people in the communities we serve.   We were pleased to donate £150 each to:

·        Kingfisher Café, Bridlington
·        Driffield & Wolds Food Bank
·        Goole Foodbank’s Christmas Toy Appeal
·        The Forge Project, Scunthorpe
·        Shores Community Pantry, Withernsea
·        Beverley Cherry Tree Community Pantry

·        Hull Trades Council Unity Shop Food Bank

 

MEGA LOTTERY DRAW      

HEY Credit Union’s Friendly Folk have made their Grand Christmas Draw and given 48 members an early Christmas present, with prizes totalling £1,750.  The Members’ Lottery is drawn on the second Wednesday every month and you could be among the next batch of prize winners – but only if you’ve signed up to take part.  Tickets cost £1 (deducted from your CU Membership Account each month until you tell us to stop).   At least 60% of the ticket sales are returned to members as prizes over the year, the rest being donated to HEY Credit Union to help with advertising, training and admin.  We’re now taking applications to join our Members’ Lottery fun in 2021 – here is a joining form.

SHORES BECOMES OUR LATEST PAYROLL PARTNER    

The Shores Centre in Withernsea has become the latest in a growing band of employers in our region to offer its workforce our unique Payroll Save & Borrow staff benefit.  Shores employees can now save as they earn, with deposits taken care of effortlessly straight from their pay packet.  It’s a safe and flexible way to put money aside knowing it’s there for sunny holidays or rainy days.  The Shores Centre Chief Executive Jayne Nendick, said: “It’s been a tough year with the pandemic and we’ve all had to be more mindful of our finances, so we are delighted to be working with the Credit Union to help support our teams in making their money go further”.   If you are an employer and would like to find out more about this simple, free wellbeing benefit, please click here or email info@hullandeycu.co.uk.

 

OUR FIRST SOCIAL IMPACT REPORT  

We have recently launched our first ever Social Impact Report.  We’ve always been clear that credit unions have a different purpose from banks and other financial service companies, as they are not run simply to make monetary profits but to make a difference to the lives of their member-customers, and the communities they serve.  In short, they are about financial wellbeing, helping members to afford their lives and be better off as a result.  HEY Credit Union has been around for 21 years, but how much difference has it actually made?   That was what our member-elected directors wanted to find out, when they challenged me to produce this report. 

I hope you will enjoy reading it and please give us some constructive feedback to help us improve future reports.    By reporting on their social impact, credit unions can help to advance the cause of fair, affordable and co-operatively-run financial services, which we are so passionate about.

 

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR OPENING TIMES    

Remember, we are here for you but our branch opening times will be a little different over the holiday period.  Here are the changes.

 

That’s all for now and for 2020, but I’ll be back with more news next year.   Before I close, though, I’d like to say a big personal “thank you” to our HEY Credit Union staff, volunteers and partners for all their hard work.  They have truly gone the extra mile to help and support our members this year in very difficult circumstances and I am so proud of them.  The kind messages we often receive from members shows that they share my view.   

I hope all readers will have the best possible Christmas, some time for a well-earned rest and be able to look forward to better times to come.

HEY CU – Giving our members a chance to have their say

Wikipedia defines a credit union as ‘a member-owned financial co-operative, controlled by its members and operated on the principle of people helping people’, and there are no places where this is truer than at HEY CU. It’s little wonder, therefore, that we look to involve our member-owners as much as possible in the running of their organisation. And it’s for this reason that we decided to invite all members to take part in our latest satisfaction survey.

Having direct input from our members is absolutely essential to find out what we do well, and where we can improve. We’re always looking for new ways to enhance our service to them, and the best way of doing that is to have open and honest two-way communication. I’m firmly of the belief that this is what sets credit unions apart from the high-street banks and corporate lenders, and is something that needs to be celebrated. At the recent ABCUL AGM in Manchester, this was one of the prominent themes from the many interactive and educational sessions and workshops.

At the end of the day, as credit unions - we’re owned by our community – so we need to have a dialogue with our community. Below are a few results from our recent survey.

If we look back at the definition at the beginning of this blog – in particular the idea that credit unions are founded on the belief of ‘people helping people’, then this stat is firmly in line with that belief. We strive to improve the financial wellbeing of our members, and one of the ways we do this is by offering access to affordable loans. Those of us who work in the credit union movement know that too many people are excluded from fair financial credit options. Hopefully, as one of the organisations proudly holding a 5 star Fairbanking Mark for Loans, we can make continue to make a difference and offer our members the best possible value.

This one in particular makes me very proud. One of our goals as a credit union is to offer a genuine alternative to the high-cost lenders out there. The fact that our members regard us as responsible suggests we are doing our job, first and foremost. Hopefully, it means that members are happy to recommend us to friends, family and work colleagues and together, we can improve the financial wellbeing of even more people throughout the region we serve – Hull, East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire and various employers further afield.

Another key theme from the ABCUL AGM 2019 was the need for credit unions to be as technologically relevant as possible, to be just as accessible to people as the less scrupulous lenders out there are. It’s a sad fact that many of the so-called payday lenders make it seem easy to apply for a loan – with some able to release funds on the very same day. Unfortunately, this ease of access can often distract people from the harsh reality of the exorbitant interest rates they charge.

It’s good to know that the vast majority of our members feel that HEY CU loans are processed quickly and conveniently for them.  Even so, it’s an area where we are striving to do even better, so that our competitive advantage over other types of lender becomes  even more apparent over time.

While the vast majority of responses to our survey were positive – there are clearly some areas where we know further development is needed. Members often mentioned the need to streamline our online access and the process of applying for loans – and rest assured, those are areas that we have plans to work on over the coming months.

Speaking of coming months, we have quite a significant milestone to celebrate this June. HEY CU will be turning 20, and we asked our members for ideas to mark the occasion. We’ll be meeting with a number of partner organisations and members of the local community to ensure June 10^th will be a date to remember for years to come. Watch out for our news of how members can get involved in these celebrations in due course – we wouldn’t be where we are today without you.

Until next time!

John