Commonpurse
A row of terraced houses with dark roofs and a red-roofed house beyond, in evening sun under a blue sky.

A credit union for four streets, owned by the people who save in it.

An older man leaning over an armchair where an older woman is reading, in a bright living room.

Saving · from £1 a week

A savings account that pays you back

Put in what you can, when you can, at the counter or from your wages. Once a year the members share what the union earned. Last year that was 2.4%, paid to everyone the same.

Open an account
Two women shaking hands across a desk in a bright office.

Borrowing · £100 to £5,000

Small loans, fair rates, a person who says yes or no

A new boiler, a deposit on a flat, a car to get to a job. Up to 12.7% a year — the cost in pounds on one page, no fees, and no penalty for paying it off early.

Before you borrow
An older woman in glasses and a striped jumper arranging white flowers and a red rose in a vase.

Bills · the jam-jar account

Rent money that stays rent money

Your income lands in one account and is split into pots on payday: rent, energy, food, the rest. The bills go out of their pots; what is left is yours to spend without doing sums.

Ask about it
Red brick and white houses with balconies and small front gardens along a street at dusk.

Every pound saved here is lent to a neighbour, and every pound of interest stays on these streets.

Owned by its members

There are no shareholders. Every member has one vote at the meeting in June, and the board is nine neighbours elected from among them. The staff work for the members; that is the whole arrangement.

Members2,140 and counting

To join£5, once, and live or work nearby

The counterTue–Sat, the old post office

Come to the June meeting

A white weatherboard house with a dark roof behind a wooden fence, in late afternoon light.
An older woman in a floral blouse washing up at a kitchen sink, smiling.

Before you borrow

The three-month rule

Save with us for three months first, any amount, even £1 a week. It tells us you can make a regular payment, which matters more to us than a credit score.

What we look at

Your bank statements for those three months and what you have left after the essentials. Not your postcode, not a computer's guess.

The loan we will refuse

One that would leave you short on rent or food. We will say so, explain why, and help you find another way — including a smaller loan that does fit.

If things change

Lose a job, fall ill: ring before you miss a payment. We can lower it or pause it; we would rather do that than chase.

Talk to the counter

The rooflines of red-brick houses against a pale sky. A small yellow house half hidden behind trees and a bamboo fence. A quiet street of low houses with palm trees and lawns under a blue sky.