ONE of Cumbria’s most successful social enterprises, Carlisle and District Credit Union, made loans totalling £1.05m in the year to September.

It is the first time that lending has exceeded £1m in one year, and takes the total loaned since it came into being in 2004 to £5.64m.

Credit unions are not-for-profit organisations, owned by their members, that offer affordable loans and a home for savings.

The Carlisle credit union offers membership to anyone who lives, works or volunteers in Carlisle district, including Brampton and Longtown.

Its annual general meeting heard that membership increased from 2,851 to 2,988 over the year while members’ share balances ended the year at £1.54m, up from £1.53m the year before.

The meeting declared a dividend of 1.0 per cent – effectively the rate of interest paid on members’ savings – down from 1.25 per cent in 2014.

Treasurer Simon Williams said: “We have a very strong balance sheet, with assets of £1.8m, which is a considerable amount when you think where we have come from, and we own our own premises.”

The credit union has a rigorous policy of pursuing loan arrears, which meant that the net cost of bad debts was only £5,600.

Its capital-to-assets ratio, a key measure of financial strength, climbed from 7.99 to 8.21 per cent, well above the 3.0 per cent required by the industry regulators.

Although the credit union is a responsible lender – it won’t lend unless it believes the borrower can afford the repayments – it will consider lending to those with no credit history or past debt problems who might struggle to borrow from the banks.

It offers a range of loans, with advances from as little as £100 or £200 up to £10,000, at interest rates between 5.9 and 26.82 per cent APR, depending on the product.

Chairwoman Jane Jewitt said: “We keep our loans affordable. We have kept our interest rates low.

“The Government raised the cap [on credit union loans] to three per cent per month and a lot of credit unions have taken advantage of that to charge more. We haven’t done that.

“We charge as little as possible, never above 2.0 per cent a month, and have no plans to raise rates.

“We are committed to keeping them low.”

The credit union’s office at 95 Lowther Street is open six days a week. More information is online at www.carlislecu.com.

There are four other credit unions in Cumbria – West Cumbria, Whitehaven & Egremont, Eden Save in Penrith, and Barrow, with another planned for South Lakeland.