In 1991 a group of people felt there was a need for a credit union around the Muckamore area of Antrim town. They started a savings club in that same year in Muckamore War Memorial Orange Hall. In those early days we met on a Friday evening for a couple of hours and slowly but surely the list of savers grew.
In 1992 we became a proper credit union authorised by the Registrar and became a limited company.
We were then able to lend money to our members, the first loans being moderate, to say the least. However from those early beginnings we grew and soon left the ledgers behind ,and acquired a computing system. Modern stuff indeed.
We moved from one room in the Orange Hall to a larger one and installed a proper counter with three teller stations. We remained there until 2019 when we moved to our purpose made office in the old Bank of Ireland premises at 27 High Street, Antrim.
Our office is ultra modern and welcoming to our members and the general public and it gives much more opportunity to the people of Antrim to avail of our services.
We are affiliated to the Ulster Federation of Credit Unions who represent our interests with our regulatory bodies such as the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Regulators
In 2012 the responsibility of regulation of credit unions was transferred from the Registrar, here in Northern Ireland, to the Financial Services Authority. The FSA was divided into two departments Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority. (PRA) We have to abide by all the rules that they lay down and furnish them with regular financial reports so they can keep a check on the viability of our business.