Stirling Credit Union

2022 AGM Roundup

Wednesday 30th Mar, 2022

Missed the AGM?

We understand that some of our members may have missed the opportunity to attend our annual AGM, so we’ve gathered these highlights.

Competitive loans

We were delighted to reduce our loan rates. Our rates compare very favourably with, for example, credit cards and store cards.

Don't pay more! Check out our new rates here.

We are indebted to John O’Donnell, who volunteered hours of time, his skill and experience to support the board’s review of our loan products.

Stirling, your credit union, continues to grow

Despite the pandemic, during 2020-21, we continued to increase adult membership: up 9%, to 1,954 active members at financial year end. Members’ savings increased by 16% (to £1,674,844). However, even though we issued over £500k in loans, loan applications fell below anticipated levels, mirroring the national trend.

By the time we held our AGM, membership had grown to 2,017 active members (that’s members who are actively saving)!

Payroll savings - Spread the word!

And it’s not just our active membership and loan books that are growing, just take a look at our new payroll partnerships!

Our “Save As You Earn” scheme is good for:

Employers – addressing one of the key causes of workplace stress and loss of productivity.
Employees – because it helps build the saving habit and a pot for “a rainy day” – or a treat!
The Credit Union – because SAYE members, it turns out, are our most reliable borrowers.

Finances

Our total income during 2020/2021 was £213,036 (+75%) and our expenditure was £133,745 (-32%), meaning we made a surplus of £79,291, a fantastic increase on last year’s finances. With our outlook of stability, growth and sustainability for the Credit Union we look forward to continuing our growth as a social enterprise.

The “Big Picture” - UK Credit Unions are “weathering the storm”!

Credit unions continue to grow across Scotland. With UK and Scottish Government support, this growth can be expected to continue.

I want to pay tribute to our dedicated staff and their willingness to adapt to changing circumstances. We really do benefit from having a team who has a positive, “can do” spirit!

As for the pandemic, data recently published by the Bank of England (who monitor and regulate the UK’s credit unions) show that members saved more (see below on the left), but borrowed less (below on the right - the red boxes highlighting the period covered by the pandemic):

This isn’t good news for credit unions! This is because we rely on members borrowing to enable us to reward members who save with us:

Making our voice heard

We want more people to hear about us and become members. So this year we engaged the services of a marketing agency, Zync Digital, a marketing agency that specialises in the Credit Union sector. The results speak for themselves. We received our highest volume of loan applications ever, as well as a record increase in memberships.

Thank you

During the year we said farewell to staff and volunteers:

During her three years’ service on the board, Sharon Canny, brought a passion for education and young people. Indeed, Sharon introduced our first Junior Savers club when she was at Allans Primary school. Together with Rebecca Lawrence, our Schools Worker, Sharon helped develop and extend this important programme. Unfortunately for the credit union, Sharon was asked to participate in a pilot run by Stirling Council and Education Scotland and so, in January 2021 felt she needed to step down from the board.
In June 2021 and after 10 years on the board, Gordon Stewart stepped down as chair, remaining on the board until November. The credit union has benefitted greatly from Gordon’s experience and expertise – it is a very different organisation today, thanks to his leadership. Gordon continues to volunteer as a member of the credit committee.
In July, Thom Kirkwood, who joined the board in March 2020, stepped down. We thank Thom for his service on the board as Secretary and wish him well for the future.
In October 2021, we said farewell to Tom Chatfield who, as many members will know, was a dedicated member of our office-based staff team. We thank Tom for his years of service.