News

Financial Inclusion Services (Yorkshire) Ltd have been contracted to host the Financial Inclusion Champions in the South Yorkshire region.

Fabrick Housing have been contracted to host the Financial Inclusion Champions in the North East (South) England region. They are looking to recruit staff to fill these vacancies.

Kitty Ussher MP, Department for Work and Pensions Parliamentary Under Secretary to speak at The Northern Financial Inclusion Conference.

A code of governance for credit unions in Britain was officially launched at ABCUL's recent autumn conference.

Save Xmas is a long-term consumer education campaign to help consumers decide how best to ensure they can afford to pay for Christmas.

The area covered by the Bristol FI Champion has been extended to include Gloucester.

The latest ABCUL Newsletter includes information about the forthcoming Northern Financial Inclusion Conference to be held in Liverpool on 4th December 2008. The theme of the conference is 'Eye on the Future: Financial Inclusion...Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow'.

National disability charity United Response has been working with the umbrella body ARC and funders including the Friends Provident Foundation, the Now Let’s Talk Money Campaign and HSBC to create a range of brand new accessible resources under the banner “Making Money Easier”.

A new team that will develop local networks to stimulate basic financial services for financially excluded people in Wales was launched by Social Justice Minister Dr Brian Gibbons today (Wednesday 22 October).

An amendment has been made to the terms of reference for the London region.

As part of the national roll-out DWP are now seeking Expressions of Interest from suitable organisations to deliver the Financial Inclusion Champions

Transact, the national forum for financial inclusion, are holding their annual conference on November 21st 2008

ABCUL is teaming up with national money advice charity Credit Action and Cattles plc at this year’s party conferences to discuss if the withdrawal of credit products and the tightening of borrowing criteria by mainstream lenders may be making affordable credit less accessible

Widening the search for Financial Inclusion Champion Teams

The Times (28 Aug o8) reports:

Credit unions, which offer savings and loans to local communities, are to be reformed next year to encourage more people to use them. 

The Government wants to make it easier for low-income households, particularly those on benefits and with bad credit records, to obtain loans so that people are not forced to turn to expensive credit cards or even loan sharks.

Credit unions are financial cooperatives owned and controlled by their members. The members are joined by a “common bond” - they may live in the same area or go to the same church. Though most unions offer good-value loans, as well as current accounts and free life insurance, they have, until now, been unable to pay any interest on savings.

Now the Government wants to scrap the “common bond” aspect of membership and allow more disparate groups to join together to form a union. It also wants to allow unions to pay interest on savings, allowing them to compete directly with banks and building societies. The proposals are due to come into effect in October next year.

There are more than 400 credit unions in Britain, providing financial services to about 400,000 members. The unions are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which guarantees the first £35,000 of a member's savings if a union go bust.

A key aim of credit unions is to foster financial inclusion, by providing financial services to people who may be refused loans, or even current accounts, by mainstream providers. However, there is nothing to stop people with perfect credit records from taking advantage of a union's good deals and flexibility.

Lakshman Chandrasekera, chief executive of Southwark Credit Union, says: “Increasingly, banks are unwilling to do business with unprofitable customers. A person on benefits might not generate any income for banks and will find it hard to get a current account. Consequently, many people simply withdraw their benefits in cash and spend the money. For a charge of 95p a week to cover our costs, we give members a current account and a debit card, which allows them greater choice and control of how they spend their money.”

To find out about your local credit union, go to http://www.abcul.coop.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched an online version of its public register, making it quicker and easier for businesses and consumers to search information held on the Consumer Credit Register. 

View the Consumer Credit Register here.

A Doncaster housing organisation has responded to the credit crunch by launching a new website to give help and advice to council tenants on money matters.
 
St Leger Homes of Doncaster has just launched SLHD Moneywise, which provides information and help in a range of financial areas including benefits, how to budget, how to choose the cheapest energy supplier and what to do when money problems occur.
 
The website can be visited at www.slhdmoneywise.co.uk

 Judith Jones, Customer Services Director at St Leger Homes, said: “Tenants who want help to manage their money will find this website invaluable. A lot of advice is available at the touch of a button and tenants without computers, can access this information on computers at their local library.
 
“The website is packed full of easy to understand information about a wide range of important issues,” she added. “We’ve worked with customers to find out what matters most to them.”
 
St Leger Homes will also be including information from the website in future editions of ‘HouseProud’ – the bi-monthly magazine for St Leger Homes’ customers.
 

Birmingham  City  Council is leading the way in a campaign aimed at
raising the  profile  of  community  credit  unions  for  those who
struggle to get mainstream loans.

The Financial Inclusion Partnership, led by the city council and
comprising housing associations, Citizens Advice Bureau, credit unions,
Department for Work  and  Pensions  and  other partners, is running the
campaign alongside BRMB.

Launching  on  Monday,  it  will  encourage people to text a message to
the radio station. Messages will then be passed onto the partnership
which will be  able  to  offer  appropriate  advice and put people in
touch with their local credit union.

Jacqui   Kennedy,  the  council  lead  on  financial  inclusion,
alongside Councillor Ayoub Khan, said: "We're starting this campaign now because soon people will start to think about Christmas and how they will be
able to pay for presents.

"To  get  a loan from a credit union you have to have been saving with
them for  a  minimum  of  13 weeks so it's important people start
thinking about this  now.  They  offer  competitive rates of interest
and accept low-level savings for those who just want to put away a small
amount.

"We  also  want  to show that credit unions are an important alternative
to mainstream  loan  companies,  particularly  for  people who struggle
to get credit from high street banks and building societies and may
otherwise fall into debt or become victims of loan sharks."

Those  interested  should text 'credit' and their postcode to 81156 and
the campaign will run for two weeks on BRMB.

For further information on the Financial Inclusion Partnership visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/financialinclusion

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK's main financial regulator, has launched a new information website aimed at young adults.

Described as a "one-stop shop" for information about money, it aims to give guidance about obtaining, saving and spending money.

The FSA said its research had shown that two-thirds of young people were not planning ahead financially. Other research has shown that 80% of people are in debt by the age of 21.

"The What About Money website has been designed with the help of young adults, specifically for young adults, and focuses on the money issues that they themselves have told us they are most interested in," said Chris Pond, the FSA's director for financial capability.

"What About Money will ultimately help younger people to become more financially capable, both now and when they plan for what they want in the future."

To access the link to the site click here.

The Treasury will announce later that it is to relax the rules governing credit unions - community-based savings and loans organisations. It is designed to help people who are having trouble either repaying debts or obtaining loans from other lenders.
Ministers fear such people could become easy prey for loan sharks.
Credit unions work as low-risk savings and loans providers, frequently for less well-off customers.
Common bond
The move comes amid concerns such customers may be particularly badly hit by the credit crunch, such as by finding it increasingly difficult to borrow money from traditional High Street lenders.
Although any area or organisation can form a credit union, they have to operate within their own communities - known as the Common Bond.
The Treasury plans measures to broaden the Common Bond, allowing the sector to expand.
By this time next year, ministers hope to get rid of many restrictions on who credit unions can lend to, allowing them to branch out by forming alliances with other unions, employers and housing associations.
They hope that by doing this, people will be able to access cheap, secure loans which they will be able to repay.

Following on from the research document on Debt and Older People commissioned by Help the Aged and Barclays to support the work of a nationwide money management programme, Your Money Matters, run by Help the Aged in partnership with Barclays.

An executive summary is now available, to access the document please click here.

The campaign customer contact centre will close as planned at the end of May 2008.
 
Customers who call the centre after the end of May will hear the following recorded  message:
 
To speak to someone about debt advice please call National Debt line on 0808 808 4000. Their service is free, confidential and independent.

For information about affordable credit, banking or low cost home insurance visit www.nowletstalkmoney.com

If you don't have access to a computer you can find out about affordable credit by ringing your local credit union (look for their number in Yellow Pages under 'credit unions').
 
Please remember to remove any remaining ‘now let’s talk money’ posters and leaflets from circulation.
 
Although the helpline will be closing in May, our work to support financially excluded people will continue. The best way for you to make sure you keep up-to-date with the latest news is through the campaign website.

Credit Action have recently launched a money guide for single parents in association with One Parent Families Gingerbread. The guide is available as a free download from their website and printed copies can be ordered via their website or by contacting the office.

Please click here to access the money guide for single parents.

To find out more about Credit Action and further initiatives that may be of interest click here

Moneymadeclear from the Financial Services Authority. We cut out the jargon and give you just the facts about financial products and services, helping you to make an informed decision.

Let our guides help you, click here

 

UNLOCK have produced a guide to insurance for people with convictions.

Click here to view the toolkit  

A great item was run on the popular BBC1 programme The One Show, at 7pm on 7^th April 2008.  Dom Littlewood investigates borrowing money from a credit union, and finds out how this works differently from a loan shark.

To view the extract from the One Show via BBC website click here.

A UK charity is launching an initiative to help young people avoid getting into debt.  LifeLine plans to train up to 20,000 youth advisers across the country during the next two years so that they can provide young people with the knowledge and skills they need to manage their finances.

The project, Young People and Money, is part of the Financial Services Authority’s £90m financial capability strategy.

Through the intermediaries the charity hopes to reach up to 200,000 young people who have been classed as Neets (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Nine out of 10 young people say they worryabout money, but despite this many consider credit cards and overdrafts to be easy ways to spend more than they earn or buy things they cannot normally afford.

The initiative is backed by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper and actor David Threlfall.