"The move coincides with celebrations on Monday to mark the 10-year anniversary of the UK's military credit unions, which are supported by Queen Camilla and provide an ethical and affordable alternative to high-cost lenders for service personnel. The MPs, including several parliamentary committee chairs, said the chancellor should enhance the financial inclusion bill going through parliament by adding a duty on every housing association to promote credit union membership to their tenants."
"They said: Since 2010, many opportunities to help credit unions expand in the UK to offer more affordable credit and better savings rates to far more people have been missed. Given the cost of living crisis, the need to encourage more investment in all our communities, continuing activity by loan sharks and the ongoing retreat of banks from all but the wealthiest high streets, a renewed cross-government focus on the future expansion of credit unions is overdue."
Labour MPs urged the chancellor to support a major expansion of credit unions to increase access to affordable credit and savings for low-income households. The MPs proposed adding a duty on every housing association to promote credit union membership to tenants and requested that credit unions gain access to the Help to Save product, which offers a 50p bonus for every £1 saved and is currently only offered by mainstream lenders. The call coincided with the tenth anniversary of UK military credit unions, supported by Queen Camilla. Membership rose 9% from 2020 to 2025 to over 1.5 million, and outstanding loans reached almost £5bn, with almost half accounted for by credit unions in Northern Ireland.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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