On the evening of October 4th, the credit union’s new Inclusion & Innovation Member Forum held its first annual meeting to discuss how the credit union can innovate and become more inclusive in doing so. The creation of the Forum was a key commitment coming from our Purpose Project work in 2021.
We’re very grateful indeed to the ten credit union members who gave up two hours of their own time to provide their feedback and suggestions – both on ideas the credit union has been working on anyway, and from their own experience of using the service.
We’re also very grateful to broadcaster, consumer champion & campaigner, Liz Barclay, for chairing the discussion.
The discussion covered four areas:
Service and communications – the forum considered how the credit union provides its services to members and how this could be improved to make it more accessible and inclusive. Ideas included bringing the different channels the credit union uses together with a single, memorable log in, thinking about accessibility and language barriers with the website, considering the challenges that some have in affording staying connected online and how the call back telephony service can be improved.
Products & services – the forum discussed a range of new product and service ideas that the credit union is considering or piloting currently, such as the e-moped financing scheme and a new Revolving Credit account which will be trialled in 2023. There were also ideas in terms of supporting young people and students with their finances and a loan service to solve the “Bank of Mum and Dad” problem.
Tools & support – the forum were generally very supportive of the efforts we are making to offer additional tools and support for members’ financial wellbeing. Some suggested there may be opportunities to go further by developing something like the Go Henry card which makes learning about managing money fun and secure for children. Overall people felt that the need to support improved financial literacy and decision making was crucial.
Democracy & engagement – finally, the forum discussed how to attract and engage people from a broad range of backgrounds to become involved in the credit union’s governance as directors. Ideas included championing the role of diverse members of the board to give visibility to those who may not see the role as something “for them”. It was also suggested that marketing and communications should include images of people from diverse backgrounds.
There was a wealth of helpful information coming out of the discussion and a huge amount of food for thought for the credit union team to consider as we grow and develop together. Thanks once again for all the Forum members for their time and engagement.
We are constantly looking for members to support the credit union with feedback, helping to spread the word about our service and shaping the future of our credit union. If you are interested in helping us with this, please get in touch: credit.union@co-operativecreditunion.coop.
