In partnership with 14 credit unions across Britain, South Manchester Credit Union have announced the takeover of Government’s credit union PrizeSaver Scheme. Members of South Manchester can win up to £5,000 a month with the initiative aiming to help people increase their financial resilience while boosting awareness and membership of credit unions.
The scheme has raised membership for credit unions and over £100,000 has been distributed to winners among the 14 credit unions. Currently there are 14,153 accounts with over £1m saved across all 14 credit unions.
Commenting on the success of the scheme, South Manchester Credit Union CEO, Sheenagh Young said: “We are proud to belong to this national initiative and to keep on offering PrizeSaver accounts to residents of South Manchester. We know the power of personal savings and this is a strong way to encourage a saving habit; account holders never lose, they can only win!”
Launched by Government in 2019 in partnership with 15 ABCUL credit unions, each month will see a top prize of £5,000 awarded to the winning saver, with a further 20 smaller prizes of £20 also awarded.
Fintech company Incuto was appointed by the Treasury in 2019, to administer the pilot and run the prize draw each month. The move was part of the Government’s drive to use innovative UK Fintech companies to boost financial inclusion through partnering with credit unions.
“It gives account holders the chance to win prizes every month in order to incentivise them getting into a savings habit,” says CEO of the Association of British Credit Unions, Robert Kelly. “Credit unions have a proven track record of helping people to save and to improve their financial resilience. Our sector has helped members to build up savings of over £1.7bn and encouraging saving is central to what we are all about. That’s why this saving scheme fits so neatly into the credit union mission.”
The PrizeSaver scheme is partly inspired by the ‘Save to Win’ scheme in the US, which has helped credit union members save $200million and has awarded $3.1million in prizes nationwide.
The 14 credit unions participating in the scheme are:
- 1st Alliance (Ayrshire) Credit Union
- Central Liverpool Credit Union
- Clockwise Credit Union
- Commsave Credit Union
- East Sussex Credit Union
- Lewisham Plus Credit Union
- London Capital Credit Union
- Merthyr Tydfil Borough Credit Union
- Notts & Lincs Credit Union
- Riverside Credit Union
- South Manchester Credit Union
- Westcountry Savings and Loans
- Plane Saver Credit Union
- Serve and Protect CU
Credit Unions
At the end of 2020, 269 credit unions had 1.4 million members, £1.7 billion in deposits, £994 million in loans and £2 billion in assets.
They are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. They are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so the first £85,000 of a member’s savings is completely safe.
