Graham Russell, CRC Director of Practice, will be taking part in a discussion group on ‘Debt Advice, money guidance and credit unions’ as part of this year’s Northern Financial Inclusion conference. CRC have been working to promote good practice for financial inclusion in rural areas through our Quids In campaign. We’re also taking the rural lead on DWP’s Financial Inclusion Champions Initiative. The Rural Financial Champion will will seek to achieve high level outcomes across three main areas: Helping people to manage their money day to day; Helping people to plan for the future and cope with financial pressure; Helping people to deal with financial distress. Visit the Northern Financial Inclusion conference website to find out more about the event: http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/HEA/financialinclusion/96380.htm

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6 October 2008
© Commission for Rural Communities

The National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF), in partnership with World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), has launched a new international designation in its popular Development Education (DE) program. The new program, first announced at WOCCU’s World Credit Union Conference in Hong Kong, will certify its first class at WOCCU’s 2009 World Credit Union Conference, scheduled for July 26-29 in Barcelona, Spain. Charles Sim, a director with Scotwest Credit Union in Glasgow, Scotland, plans to be among the first to receive this designation. The retired firefighter and longtime credit union volunteer views the new program as a way to promote and enhance global credit union development, as well as further extend the DE program’s reach to other countries. “After seeing WOCCU’s field work ‘at coal face,’ as we say in Scotland, I value the importance of WOCCU’s programs to the developing world,” said Sim. “I am looking forward to being in the first group to receive this certification and I’ve already begun work on my independent study project.” The DE program, which links U.S. credit union advocates with the movement’s philosophical roots through interactive group presentations and experiential learning, has always supported credit unions’ global initiatives through volunteer projects and international exchanges. Now by formally expanding the U.S. DE program to include international opportunities, the partnership with WOCCU will build on the program’s foundation of cooperative values as U.S. DE participants gain more exposure to fellow students and credit union movements from other countries.

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11 September 2008
© WOCCU/National Credit Union Foundation

People who find themselves unable to repay their debts are being urged to seek advice with money problems to avoid getting too deep into debt. In County courts, people at risk of being evicted from their home as a result of possession proceedings can get advice and support while posters giving people details of free advice providers to assist them with their debt problems are on display. The Government is also pressing ahead with plans for creditors to give people owing them money information on how to contact them to discuss problems, including details of independent free advice providers in a letter before taking legal action, helping them to avoid court. Proposals to give judges powers to issue Enforcement Relief Orders to give people who have temporary financial difficulties a short break from repaying a debt where there is clear evidence that their circumstances will improve within a short period are also being considered, following consultation in June.

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8 August 2008
© Ministry of Justice (National)

Credit unions worldwide are expanding at a stable pace, with more members being served by more credit unions in 2007 than were served during the previous year, according to findings released this week in World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) 2007 Statistical Report. Respondents to the annual survey from 96 countries reported that 49,134 credit unions served more than 177 million people worldwide in 2007. In 2006, 46,377 credit unions served slightly more than 172 million members in 97 countries. Credit union assets around the globe grew by 8.2% over the previous year, totaling US$1.2 trillion in 2007, while credit unions managed more than US$900 billion in savings. Africa led asset growth last year with a 37.3% increase. Capitalization levels, a measure of financial soundness, remained strong at 9.8% of total non-risk-adjusted assets in 2007, demonstrating that the international credit union movement is on solid financial footing. Global membership in credit unions grew by 3.1% in 2007 compared to the previous year, with Africa again leading the growth curve in relative terms with 15.1% growth. WOCCU has collected annual statistics on the international credit union movement for the past 35 years to produce its annual Statistical Report. The only source for such comprehensive data on the global credit union movement, WOCCU’s Statistical Report is widely cited by governments, international institutions and analysts. To download a free copy of the current report, visit www.woccu.org/publications/statreport

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21 July 2008
© ABCUL

New research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) reveals that the public favour Personal Carbon Trading (PCT) over other emission reduction policy options for individuals and households. The survey by ippr to determine public response to PCT showed that respondents were less opposed to the idea of personal carbon credits than other alternatives, although it was still only supported by a minority of people. Respondents were also asked their opinions on carbon taxes, which would apply a levy to energy costs at the point of sale, or a similar cap-and-trade system to PCT but applied directly to energy providers. In a survey of more than a thousand people, PCT won more support (31%) than the other policy alternatives presented. ippr says the research demonstrates that PCT is potentially more politically acceptable than previously thought. Although less than a third of respondents said they supported or strongly supported PCT, this compared to 23% who supported a corporate cap-and-trade approach and 19% who supported a carbon tax.

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16 July 2008
© IPPR

Credit Unions have a role to play in helping people survive the credit crunch the Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews said today [10th July]. Speaking at the Sustainable Communities and Co-operative Action Conference hosted by the Robert Owen Community Banking Fund he said: “Confidence in financial service providers is at a current low, the effects of the credit crunch are clearly visible. Credit unions offer friendly, local access to financial services and can help rebuild consumer confidence. They also play an important role in helping tackle financial illiteracy and financial exclusion.”

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10 July 2008
© Welsh Assembly

Legislation guiding the work of credit unions and cooperatives will be updated to allow them to grow and compete with other financial institutions, the government announced this week. The changes, which will be brought forward through reforms to current legislation, will remove red tape restricting the growth of the sector and allow a wider range of people to use the services that credit unions offer. Measures outlined by economic secretary to the Treasury, Kitty Ussher, include radically changing the ‘common bond’, which makes it difficult for credit unions to provide services for people living or working outside a particular area. Other measures include making it possible for groups rather than just individuals to become members, lowering the minimum membership age to 16 and removing a statutory limit on non-qualifying members. The Treasury is consulting on the reforms with a view to introducing them in 2009 through a legislative reform order.

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2 July 2008
© Newstart

This report explores how safety nets for home-owners could be improved by introducing the Sustainable Home-Ownership Partnership (SHOP) and a Housing Tax Credit. As mortgage repossessions rise to levels not seen since the last housing market slump in the mid-1990s, interest in improving the safety nets for home-owners is growing. This report considers: how SHOP could replace the existing safety nets with a partnership of borrowers, lenders and the government;  how SHOP would be structured and funded, which risks would be covered by it, whether it would be compulsory and how it could be phased in; how a Housing Tax Credit could complement SHOP by protecting home-owners who suffer a reduction in income without becoming unemployed as well as providing work-incentives for unemployed home-owners.

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4 March 2008
© Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Striking Numbers Total UK personal debt at the end of December 2007 stood at £1,409bn. The growth rate increased to 9.3% for the previous 12 months which equates to an increase of ~ £120bn. Total secured lending on homes at the end of December 2007 stood at £1,185bn. This has increased 10.0% in the last 12 months. Total consumer credit lending to individuals in December 2007 was £224bn. This has increased 5.7% in the last 12 months. Total lending in December 2007 grew by £9.1bn. Secured lending grew by £8.6bn in the month. Consumer credit lending grew by £0.6bn.

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1st February 2008
© Credit Action

Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers are planning an amendment to the Government’s bill on the use of dormant assets that would see funding divided equally between the proposed Social Investment Bank, which would fund voluntary groups, and the funding of youth facilities. As the bill stands, youth services are listed as the first recipient of the estimated £350m of unclaimed funds from banks and building societies. Financial inclusion projects are second and the “social investment wholesaler” is third in line.

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23 January 2008
© Helen Warrell, Third Sector