Leeds City Credit Union
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Leeds City Credit Union Limited is a not-for-profit member-owned financial
co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
, trading as Leeds Credit Union, formed in 1987 and based in the West Yorkshire city of
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
.


History

The
credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...
began life as the Leeds Council Employees Credit Union, offering savings and loans to local authority staff. In 1997, it became a community credit union, open to everyone living or working in the local authority area. Leeds is the second largest metropolitan borough council in the UK with a population of 800,000. While continuing to serve members from 2006 to 2008, Leeds City Credit Union experienced a number of management and governance challenges. This led to an independent review of governance and the appointment of a new management team and a number of new directors. Since 2009, Leeds City Credit Union has re-emerged as the country's largest credit union with over 35,000 members. In 2012, members adopted a new constitution to take advantage of The Legislative Reform (Industrial and Provident Societies and Credit Unions) Order 2010. This has given the credit union new powers including the ability to extend its common bond to employers and organisations outside Leeds, to offer business accounts and interest on savings. In 2013, Leeds City Credit Union selected Intermarketing Agency as its marketing agency, following a pitch process. In 2014,
Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...
piloted a project in conjunction with Leeds City to encourage its staff to direct customers towards credit unions. It was awarded a grant of £50,000 by the
Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank w ...
Credit Union Development Fund to help support its reserves and enable it to bring forward plans for growth more quickly. In July 2015, Leeds City Credit Union became members of Leeds Citizens, a new diverse alliance of organisations which aims to campaign for social justice and the common good. On 3 September 2015,
Economic Secretary to the Treasury The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is the sixth-most senior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, after the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster-General and the ...
,
Harriett Baldwin Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin (; born 2 May 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Worcestershire since 2010. Prior to her parliamentary career, she worked for the investment bank JPMor ...
visited the credit union to discuss the important role that credit unions play in the financial sector. On 11 September 2015, a Your Loan Shop information point at the Compton Centre, Leeds was officially opened by LCC Executive Member for Communities, Cllr. Debra Coupar (Lab. Cross Gates and Whinmoor) and rising
Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...
RLFC star,
Liam Sutcliffe Liam Sutcliffe (born 25 November 1994) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays in a variety of positions for the Hull FC in the Betfred Super League and England and the England Knights at international level. Sutcliffe has ...
.


Mergers

Seacroft Credit Union (established 1997) transferred engagements to Leeds City Credit Union in 2001, followed by Skyrack Credit Union (established 1991 as South Headingley and Burley Savings and Co-operative Credit Union) and Halton Moor Co-operative Savings and Credit Union (established 1988) in 2002. More recently, White Rose Credit Union (established 1997 and incorporating the engagements of United Stream Credit Union) transferred in 2014.


Activities

Registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, Leeds City Credit Union is governed by a volunteer board of directors who are elected at the Annual General Meeting. It has branches in
Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which houses now the Leeds Industrial ...
, Merrion House Leeds, Middleton, Kirkgate, Dewsbury Road and
Seacroft Seacroft is an outer-city suburb/township consisting mainly of council estate housing covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the LS14 Leeds postcode area, around east of Leeds city centre. It sits in th ...
. In 2014, it extended its reach to cover
Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
where it has branches in the WDH City Centre Hub and the library building in
Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...
. In June 2015, Leeds City Council teamed up with the credit union to as part of a scheme to tackle empty homes. Leeds City Credit Union also has two other customer facing outlets named 'Your Loan Shop'. For August and September 2014, Your Loan Shop had 364 visits in person and 118 web enquiries, resulting in 103 loans being issued to the value of £87,718. In August 2015, Your Loan Shop celebrated its first birthday by announcing it has helped over 600 people in Leeds and saved the people of Leeds approximately a quarter of a million pounds in higher interest charges compared to other loan shop lenders. Membership of Leeds City Credit Union is restricted by common bond to individuals living or working in the cities of Leeds, Wakefield, the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham and Harrogate where it continues to trade under the White Rose name in partnership with
Harrogate Borough Council Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa wate ...
. Residents of certain housing associations and staff of select employers are also eligible to join.


Products

Leeds City Credit Union runs a payroll deduction savings and loans scheme in conjunction with
Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...
and select local employers. The credit union is responsible for the operation of the scheme, with the employer facilitating monthly deductions from salary. A payment card, accepted at
Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
and
PayPoint PayPoint plc is a British business offering a system for paying bills in United Kingdom, Ireland and Romania. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The PayPoint network was set up in 1996 with the aim of enabling customers to load g ...
outlets, can also be issued to members on request. Credit unions do not pay a fixed rate of interest on savings balances. Instead, they distribute any trading surplus to members in the form of an annual dividend calculated on average savings or as a rebate of loan interest paid. Leeds City Credit Union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the
Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...
and PRA. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members' savings are protected against business failure by the
Financial Services Compensation Scheme The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the UK's statutory deposit insurance and investors compensation scheme for customers of authorised financial services firms. This means that FSCS can pay compensation if a firm is unable, or l ...
.Credit Union Guide
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (retrieved 2 April 2015) As a current account provider, the credit union also subscribes to the
Banking Code The Banking Code was a voluntary code of practice agreed by banks in certain countries. The code typically described how banks dealt with accepting deposits and withdrawals and with customer disputes on transactions. Banking codes have in most cou ...
.


See also

*
Association of British Credit Unions The Association of British Credit Unions Limited, commonly known as ABCUL, is the leading trade association for credit unions in Great Britain. ABCUL represents around 70% of credit unions who in turn provide services to 85% of the British credit ...
*
Credit unions in the United Kingdom Credit unions in the United Kingdom were first established in the 1960s. Credit unions are member-owned financial cooperatives operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit and other financial services to their members. Credit un ...
*
British co-operative movement The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7000 registered co-operatives owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started wit ...


References


External links


Leeds City Credit UnionWhite Rose Credit UnionYour Loan ShopAssociation of British Credit Unions
{{Credit Unions in the United Kingdom Credit unions of the United Kingdom Banks established in 1987 Organisations based in Leeds