Manchester Credit Union held an awareness campaign to start a conversation with members of the public about their financial wellbeing.
The campaign, called ‘How’s Your Balance?’, saw staff of Manchester Credit Union (MCU) and their members post photos of themselves on social media balancing various items on their heads – from teddies to kettles – to raise awareness of how they can help people stabilise their bank balance with an affordable loan and savings plan.
Chief executive Christine Moore said: “It has been such a tough couple of years for everyone and we wanted to show that we are supporting people’s financial wellbeing as we ease our way out of the pandemic. If your financial wellbeing does not feel stable it can knock other areas of your life off balance.
“It is a serious topic but we also wanted to have a bit of fun while doing it, which is why we joined forces with other credit unions across Greater Manchester to take on the ‘How is your balance?’ challenge.
“It was great to see so many people get involved and we are encouraged that engagement to our Facebook account went up by 121%.
“Following on from the success of the campaign we aim to increase our membership to support more people in our community with our ethical lending and saving. We are here to help improve the financial wellbeing of Mancunians across the city and beyond.”
More than 65,000 people are members of credit unions across Greater Manchester; 80% of people who borrow from Greater Manchester credit unions spend the money locally and 70% of members continue to save regularly after repaying a credit union loan.
Greater Manchester Credit Unions also have £20 million available to lend and save borrowers £13m in charges and interest.
