Speaker: Bill Rayner, Retired
When did you first hear about Serve and Protect Credit Union and why did you join?
Bill Rayner: Hi. My name's Bill Rayner. And I was encouraged to join the credit union as far back as the mid to late 1990s. At that time, I was going through my divorce and financially I was in a a real mess. It got to the stage where I was actually selling things just to, make ends meet to the end of the month. A colleague who was a member of the credit union at the time told me all about it. He told me how if I subscribed, I could also borrow some money at the same time. And, actually, this was what I actually did. It was my colleague who really helped me to do this. I don't know whether he was an officer of the credit union or not. I initially only subscribed £10 per month, but that subscription enabled me to obtain a loan without feeling I was being judged.
How has the credit union helped you?
Bill Rayner: As I said in the first question, in many ways, financially, the credit union saved my life. Because I was actually able to get to the end of that month there to do that. But since that time, I've actually recovered very well financially. I continue to subscribe all the time. I haven't stopped since the day I joined. And for me, it's a nice, easy way in which I can save, but also from time to time, I still need to borrow money on a short term. And for me, the credit union is always my first choice. It's not necessarily going to be the cheapest loan that I can get. But what I do like about it is that the money comes straight from my pay, so that if I do borrow some money, I'm never, ever tempted to go and then say, well, I'll just pay another bill with this and maybe pay the loan another time. Likewise, should the worst happen, I do know that the loan would not be a burden upon my children. So again it's helped me in that way. The credit union has also helped me to think about how I act financially, and I am now as a result of it, a much better person when it comes down to what I do with my money and actually buying things when I need them rather than when I want them. Although from time to time I do go and buy things when I want them as well.
What is the best thing about being part of the credit union?
Bill Rayner: the best thing about being part of the credit union, it's an ability, really to be able to save money on a regular basis, to think about what I'm doing. Contacting. Now, most of the time, I'll contact by email and get a response very, very quickly. And likewise, if I need to talk to somebody, I know that I can talk to them. I recently made a mistake, for instance. I'd taken out one of the fixed rate loans, and I thought, I can pay off that loan now with the, uh, the savings that I had only to discover that actually, that can't be paid off until, or I can't receive it back until the maturity date. It wasn't the end of the world, but the staff were really, really helpful. Now for me, I have a bank account which I like to have. I've had this bank account now for about 50 years, but unfortunately, the bank doesn't exist. And trying to get hold of someone in the bank is almost impossible. Whereas the staff within the credit union are there to answer my questions very, very quickly. And I never have to search around for a button somewhere or talk to a bot before I can actually start talking to a human, and that is a really good asset when it comes to the credit union. I didn't mention the fixed rate savings, and they're very useful as well, provided you think about what you might be buying in the next 12 to 24 months. But the savings rates are very, very good. There's lots of offers that are about. But that's really why I like the credit union.
