What is a Credit Union?

"not for profit, not for charity but for service"

Our Mission Statement

HertSavers exists to help people who live and work within Hertfordshire to manage their finances by:

• providing a safe and accessible place to save money
• promoting the wise use of credit at a reasonable rate of interest
• assisting them to understand their personal budget and net worth

As the organisation develops and grows, it is our aim to provide a fully functional banking service with a comprehensive range of savings and loans products that are attractive to the people who live and work in our neighbourhood.

Local people, providing a better banking service that is tailored to meet community needs.

The Credit Union Story

The modern Credit Union movement traces its origins to Germany and to Friedrich Willhelm Raiffeisen, the Mayor of a small town in southern Germany, who in 1849 formed societies, which later evolved in to Credit Unions. The purpose of these Credit Unions was to enable people to help themselves in relieving debt and poverty, by pooling their limited resources and therefore, enabling all members to benefit at different times.

A Credit Union is a democratic, financial co-operative owned and controlled by its own members. Each Credit Union is run only to benefit its members, all of whom have something in common - the common bond.

Credit Unions in the UK were in existence for some time before the movement gained momentum in 1979, when the Credit Unions Act was passed.

Since then, the Credit Union philosophy of mutual self-help has proved very popular, and there are now approx 500 Credit Unions throughout England, Scotland and Wales, with over 655,000 members – and the movement is growing rapidly in popularity. There are thousands employed in the sector and many more thousands are volunteers involved in the movement.

Worldwide, there over 186 million members in 97 countries with assets of $1.2 trillion and are especially popular in Ireland and North America, where over 47% of the population are member of a Credit Union, closely followed by the Caribbean and Australia.

Please complete all your details in the form below, and click submit when you have finished.

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