Case study - West Norwich Credit Union

CREDIT UNION GOING THOUGH ALL STAGES OF CONACCESS SUPPORT.

In 1997 The Board of Earlham Credit Union, a small community based credit union in Norwich with a membership of less than 50 active members and 30 junior savers, made a decision to use the Bureau Service provided by Conaccess. The resulting benefits were; a reduction in expenditure by 50% due to lower Audit Costs, less time spent on manual bookkeeping tasks, more volunteer time to focus on promotion of the credit union, no more interest calculation errors and a professional feel to the credit union for members and officers due to computer produced reports and statements.

By 2000 the credit union had expanded its asset and volunteer base and had successfully bid for a grant to employ a number of workers. The change to BACUS felt like a natural progression, with the transfer of data held by Conaccess to the credit unions newly purchased computer, a relatively straightforward process. The training provided enabled new staff and volunteers to understand their roles and gave them the confidence to use the software. With the new shop front the credit union was able to utilise the system fully, providing loan quotes, statements and to report and act on delinquency quickly.

The Credit Union grew steadily and by 2006 had over quarter of a million out on loan, membership of 550, with 450 junior accounts and had paid dividends since 1998. Expansion to West Norwich Credit Union occurred and also a move to larger premises. The Board secured funding to purchase FOCUS in 2008. Some of the collectors felt anxious moving to a system similar to building societies and printed Passbooks. All worries evaporated however, when they completed the training and realised that much of the software was very similar to BACUS and in fact there was less inputting.

Long standing members have been supportive of the changes over the years. They like the professional approach that the system offers and now with FOCUS they get all the service provided by banks, but locally and they own it!!! New members feel confident that the organisation is here to stay and are impressed with the efficiency of the system.