Young Savers urge to get the Credit Union habit.

I have long been an ardent supporter of the Credit Union movement and have been a member for nearly 20 years so the other day both myself, Cllrs Carrie Harper and Marc Jones joined the Wrexham County Borough Credit Union and we hope to encourage others to join. Anyone who lives and works within the County Borough can join. At the moment there are 350 members but if we are to make a difference to people's lives by providing them with low cost loans, then we need many more members to contribute. The Credit Union isn't only for people who wish to take loans there must also be savers and to encourage savers the Credit Union will pay a competitive rate of interest or dividend. Following our visit we prepared the following press release:

Youngsters in Wrexham's schools are being encouraged to get saving through the town's credit union. Plaid Cymru's Wrexham candidate at the next Westminster election Arfon Jones said: "The Junior Savers scheme run by the credit union is a great way for young savers to get into the habit of saving regularly. As part of our efforts to reduce child poverty within the County Borough I will be encouraging all the Secondary Schools to establish savings schemes in conjunction with the Credit Union. We need to provide children and young people with the skills to manage their own money and to avoid the multitude of problems associated with debt."
Arfon Jones, who is also a County Councillor in Gwersyllt and Lead Member for Children and Young People, was speaking as he joined the credit union at its office in Chester Street.
The credit union is able to offer instant loans at reasonable rates as well as providing a competitive dividend for savers compared to commercial rates of interest. Savers have recently enjoyed a 3% dividend, which is better than most instant access accounts in the high street banks.
Cllr Jones was for many years secretary of the Caia Park Credit Union as well as a founding member and Secretary of the North Wales Police Credit Union. He added: "I've been a consistent supporter of the credit union movement and it's great to see the credit union gaining members now that the credit crunch is really starting to bite. I would encourage everyone who lives or works within the County Borough to join and save with their Credit Union."