London Mutual Credit Union: building financial security together
Tower Bridge (Mike Green)
London Mutual is one of the city’s major credit unions. It’s not possible to list all the smaller ones. If you live outside the qualifying areas, just enter your postcode to find your local credit union.
But we’ll focus on this one, as it’s one of London’s largest, and many people are qualified to join.
Who can join London Mutual Credit Union?
People who live in the London boroughs of:
- Southwark
- Lambeth
- Westminster
- Camden
Together, this is around 800,000 adults. Can you imagine the change in financial policy, if a good portion switched?
You can also join if you are a member of certain professions (anywhere in London) or you have relatives living in the immediate area.
What is a credit union?
A credit union is a locally owned bank that offers current and savings accounts. The different is that unlike high street banks, the focus is on helping you save money, rather than getting you into debt.
Loans are not encouraged. But when given, they are arranged at fair rates (there are limit on interest by law) and designed to help people get money for essentials (from a new washing machine to helping launch a small business).
And the loan money comes from savers, who receive dividends (rather than interest). So the more they save, the more money they get. Just like banks, credit unions are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which guarantees money more than most people have, should a credit union fall (and it’s not likely that this one will).
What’s also unique about London Mutual Credit Union is that it also offers mortgages. So although of course a mortgage is a huge loan – if you want to buy a property, it’s worth looking into here, as you are guaranted this is not a big bank trying to take all your money!
