Cuchullain Credit Union         

At Cuchullain Credit Union we are proud of the products and service we offer our members. Our aim is to provide financial services to our members to enable them to attain their financial objectives and we aspire to provide these with fairness and dignity.

Cuchullain Credit Union was founded originally for the purpose of helping people who worked in the printing industry in Dundalk and their families, back in the 1960’s.On the 5th January 1967, the first organisational meeting was convened in the Labourer’s Hall in Clanbrassil Street. Seventeen members turned up, subscribed £1.00 each and with this £17.00 the first credit union in Dundalk was formed and called the Dundalk Printers Credit Union. Shortly after the first loan of £10.00 was granted and the rest is history.

Some years later the Directors decided to extend the common bond and it was this decision that has given us Cuchullain Credit Union today, a credit union that extends to any person living or working in Co. Louth and who has joined the Dundalk Printers and Allied Trades Social Club, now commonly referred to as The Social Club.

What is a Credit Union?               

Credit Unions are democratic and mutual. They are run for the members and by the members.

They are organisations of people not money.

Each member has one vote at the annual general meeting regardless of the amount of savings they hold and it is at this meeting that members exercise their right to elect the Board of Directors, the Supervisory Committee and the Auditor.

Cuchullain Credit Union lends money to members only, for “provident or productive purposes”, so that the loan will be of BENEFIT to them. Today the credit union is providing loans when other financial institutions are refusing them.

Years ago, the banks only wanted to do business with a select few, today they are refusing many.

They need to borrow money from abroad,

Your credit union uses its member’s savings to provide member loans; those who have and don’t need make their surplus available to those who need and have not.

This is the secret of credit union success. A success that is not measured by profit in euros but in human dignity, respect, personal development, improved standard of living, social cohesiveness and education.

Many credit union members got their first start through the credit union which extended credit to them when no-one else would. Often the person who has the most need for credit has little or no security to offer and they can only get ahead financially if someone is willing to trust them.

Credit Unions consider the character of the member as an important factor when considering a loan application.

Thrift      

Cuchullain Credit Union encourages thrift through an on-going educational campaign on what thrift is and how to practice it. Of course regular saving is at the heart of thrift, but it is not the whole story. We must realise that saving money is not an end in itself; it is simply a medium of exchange and it only has value from the use we make of it.

So what is Thrift?

• Intelligent buying, so as to get the most for your money, is thrift

• Budgeting to enjoy a better standard of living on your income is thrift. Plan ahead and don’t buy on impulse – don’t be lured by the price tag.

• Saving a little as you repay a loan is thrift.

• Borrowing from Cuchullain Credit Union for a good purpose is thrift. With the cash you can negotiate a better deal for those large investments like the car loan or the home improvement loan.

Thrift is the wise management of our resources whatever our circumstances at any given time.

A Community Affair

The Credit Union rule book defines the objectives of the credit union as;

• The promotion of thrift among its members by the accumulation of their savings.

• The creation of sources of credit for the benefit of its members at a fair and reasonable rate of interest.

• The use and control of member’s savings for their mutual benefit.

• The education of the members in their economic, social and cultural well-being as members of the community.

• The credit union is a co-operative, it belongs to its members who have an equal say in its running.

A group of people who agree to save together for the purpose of helping one another…that’s a credit union.

Helping one another is the important point. Members who fully appreciate this can gain much satisfaction from knowing that they are helping others.

Unless members save and continue to save regularly the credit union will become just another loan society.

We must always remember that the primary objective of the credit union is the promotion of thrift.

Borrowing      

Of course borrowing brings with it the responsibility of prompt regular repayments. A borrowing member who fails or neglects this is denying his fellow member the use of money which they need.

The most important asset which a member has in the credit union is his/her credit character. This credit character can be built up by regular savings and prompt repayments. A credit union member with a good credit character will find thathe/she will never be short of their needs.

As a co-operative organisation, Cuchullain Credit Union members who expect to gain from membership must always be prepared to give to it.

Your ability to repay a loan may be judged to some extent by the manner in which you have saved in the past. While repayment capacity will be determined ultimately by your level of income and expenditure, it will be your character that will rank highly in the assessment of your loan application.

When enough is enough, a short story

One evening, a young man was regaling his friends in the pub with stories of his great financial success, his smart investments, and all the cool stuff he had bought and was going to buy.

All the while, an older man sat nearby with his paper and pint, taking in the scene.

Eventually he put in, “I have something you’ll never have.”

The young man stopped in mid-sentence, turned around and said with a smirk, “And what might that be?”

The older man replied, “Enough.”

What is enough!

We all have different ideas of what enough might be, depending on where we live and what sort of lifestyle we have grown accustomed to. The people of Haiti or Pakistan might have enough with a makeshift tent and some food and clean water, whereas we may believe we need the latest Tom Ford sunglasses on our heads to feel anywhere near that exclusive ‘enough.’

If Ireland’s economic collapse has anything to teach us, it is that money, and all the things it can buy, does not make us happy. In fact, it has made some of us very unhappy indeed.

As a wit once wrote: “Money talks. Mine said goodbye.”

So when our money has said goodbye and we’re having withdrawal symptoms, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate our relationship with those crumpled pieces of paper that we worshipped for so long.

Now that we have time for some mature reflection, it is clear that greed got a hold of us by the throat and demanded “more, more,” instead of “enough, enough.”

FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS

As we do so, it might be useful to ask ourselves some fundamental questions about wealth and its proper place in a just and caring society.

Like, how do we define wealth?

Is wealth having money in your handbag or wallet?

Is it having insurance policies, houses, savings?

Or is it a less tangible thing, measured in terms of health and happiness and having a purpose in life?

Those who have lived long and wisely know that the good life isn’t all about money. They know that true wealth is to be foundin doing the things they love to do, enjoying strong relationships and living according to their highest ideals.

These are the things money can never buy.

In the jumble of emotions at work in the national psyche, it is difficult to admit that we made some serious mistakes in handling our finances. Yet, as the disbelief and anger fade somewhat, it is a good time for us to go back to basics and to relearn the rules of fiscal prudence that our mothers taught us.

Not many of us grew up with credit cards and overdrafts or other ingenious ways to make money appear from nowhere. We learned how to manage our money the easy way, by working for it. And with our mothers at our side, we then learned how to spend our sweaty little coins wisely.

We learned how to save up for what we wanted and to really enjoy it once we got it.

What a difference it would make to the national purse and our household budgets if we lived by our mother’s home truths for a change. If our great Programme for National Recovery consulted our mothers instead of our economists, it might include some common-sense guidance on how to run a household and a country without landing us in a black hole of debt.

But there is hope that we can teach our children and grandchildren how to gain a proper perspective on money.

To teach them that it is a tool to be used wisely, otherwise one day it may turn around and use them.

(Edited from an article in Reality)