About Us
We officially opened in April 2014 as a savings and loans cooperative owned and controlled by our members - people like you who live, work, or study in the Perth and Kinross area. Individual member's savings are pooled and form a fund from which low cost loans can be offered to all members when, and if, needed. We do not encourage members to over commit themselves and as such we only offer loans that borrowers can afford to repay. Perth and Kinross Credit Union is an ethical financial cooperative, offering a genuine alternative to High Street banks and high interest lenders. All our savings and borrowing products come with free life insurance cover for all members. Terms and conditions do apply.
How we work
As a member-owned organisation, Perth and Kinross Credit Union has a volunteer Board of Directors that shapes our strategy and policies.
Board members give their time for free. The day-to-day management and operations are delegated to our manager and her team of part time staff and volunteers.
The Board is responsible for making sure the credit union is well managed, operates within agreed budgets and complies with the law. Directors are elected yearly by the membership at the Annual General Meeting, for a term of up to three years.
We are:
- Owned by our members
- Regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the same regulators who supervise the Banks and Building Societies
- A member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects your savings with us up to £85,000 per person
- A member of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL)
A potted history of credit unions
These cooperatives first emerged in the 1800 in Europe, formed to enable people to help themselves by relieving debt, reducing poverty and allowing the community to thrive. Credit unions today share the same ethos. The UK was a little later in embracing this movement emerging in Wimbledon and the Glasgow area in the 1960s.
Since then the credit union philosophy of self-help has proven very popular. In the UK, over a million people have recognised the value of credit unions, with total savings of well over £100 million. There are thousands employed in the sector and many more thousands involved in the movement as volunteers.
