Welcome to abcul.coop, the top information and news site about credit unions in England, Scotland and Wales, and the home site of the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd.
ABCUL is the main trade association for credit unions in Britain. We provide a wide range of services to our members including information, representation and training.
As a democratic membership organisation, ABCUL is registered as an Industrial and Provident Society and is controlled by a Board of Directors elected by our member credit unions. The Board of Directors is led by Antony MacRow-Wood, the ABCUL President. All directors can be contacted via our Manchester Head Office; a full list of directors is available to download below.
ABCUL's staff team is led by Chief Executive Mark Lyonette. Most staff are based in our Manchester Head Office where the membership services, conferences, policy and Credit Union Current Account team can be contacted. A number of remote staff team members, including Project Managers for the DELTA (Development, Education and Learning through ABCUL; a DWP funded capacity building, training and mentoring project for credit unions delivering Growth Fund loans) and our Policy Officer for Scotland, work from locations around the country. ABCUL supplements it's core staff team with a number of specialised associates who are contracted to undertake training and project work for the Association.
ABCUL credit unions come together in regional Chapters for training and networking. If you are an ABCUL credit union and would like more information about Chapter events, please contact us and we will put you in touch with your local chapter.
More information about the work of ABCUL and our member credit unions is available in the About Credit Unions section of this site. You can find out what services a credit union could offer you, learn how they operate or look into the history the movement. You can find out how easy it is to save with a credit union and find out how little a credit union loan costs with our handy loan calculator. Here is also the place to look if you want to find out more about ABCUL, or want to start up a new credit union.
In the Credit Union Search section you can find out if there is a credit union you can join. Each ABCUL credit union has its own webpage within this section, which you can use to find out if you are eligible for membership and contact them direct.
In the News section you can find out about developments in the credit union movement, choose to receive updates direct from the site or browse through past articles, photos and attachments.
ABCUL Credit Union Communities - creditunioncommunities.org contains information, discussion forums and news for staff and directors of ABCUL credit unions, members can use this page to log straight into the communities.
