Over the past 33 years, The Universities Credit Union has grown from a small, tightly-knit group into a larger, more "outward-looking" organisation that provides its members with services and products that they might only have dreamed of in 1963 when we started out.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF YOUR CREDIT UNION

At the end of our first year, we were looking after the interests of only 522 members and deposits totalling just £80,857. Over the years, due to expansion and amalgamation, we have gradually added to our membership those employed at a number of other educational institutions and increased our deposits considerably. Jump forward to the year 1995 and a great deal has changed (while some things have stayed very much the same):

Our membership now totals 11,464 and our deposits amount to some $31.8 million. Nevertheless, the Universities Credit Union's founding principle of being motivated by the best interests of our members rather than purely by profit remains.

To this day, our staff and management remain very approachable, always keeping in mind that their ultimate employers are not a block of faceless share-market investors, but the thousands of UCU members they deal with every day.

WHY SHOULD YOU BE WITH UCU?

Simply because, the Universities Credit Union's products and services that are contantly re-appraised to ensure they meet the fast-changing needs of our members:

From free counter cheques to our money-saving Insurance Hotline and on through a wide range of clever credit and investment options, plus, coming soon, our revolutionary World-Wide Web banking facility, every new UCU service is designed to improve the lives of you, our members.

YOU CAN COUNT ON YOUR CREDIT UNION

Credit unions are financial co-operatives owned and democratically operated by the people who save and borrow with them.

They are totally commited to the financial well being of their members. Credit Unions encourage savings, provide loans and offer a comprehensive range of other financial services at very competitive rates.

Fees and charges are often very low, and in some cases do not apply at all. The appeal of credit unions is reflected in a flourishing membership worldwide.

There are now some 42,000 credit unions operating in 87 countries serving 89 million members. Everybody can join and presently over three million Australians belong to the 308 credit unions throughout the nation.