Throughout the English-speaking world, credit unions have been highly successful at extending low cost financial services to their communities, particularly to those who are not well served by mainstream providers.

Credit unions provide:

• a solution based on self-help rather than state handout;
• a community-owned and community-based solution;
• a social framework as well as a financial one;
• a means of ensuring that money is kept within the local community;
• a solution based on tried and tested structures both in this country and others, credit unions have shown themselves to be popular and successful.

Credit unions help address financial exclusion in the following ways:

• They help people learn the value of making regular savings.
• Credit unions use this pool of savings to provide a source of low-cost credit. This is particularly valuable for those who have difficulty borrowing at affordable rates of interest from mainstream financial providers and might otherwise turn to loan sharks.
• A bill-payment facility is offered by a number of credit unions. This enables individuals without bank accounts to benefit from purchasing their utilities in the most cost-effective manner.
• Credit unions provide free life insurance and loan protection insurance to their members.
• One of the objects of a credit union, set out in the 1979 Credit Unions Act, is the education of their members in the wise use of money. Credit unions can play a valuable role in equipping people to be effective and responsible users of financial services.