The South West Durham Credit Union has announced that members are to recoup invested cash after a 2-year rescue plan failed to come to fruition.
The SWDCU has a branch on Woodhouse Close, as well as in Shildon, Crook and Coundon. It has been contacted by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, an independent body whose role is to pay compensation to authorised schemes, such as credit unions, when they are unable to, or are unlikely to, pay their depositors.
In essence, the news means that all of the members will receive the money they invested in the credit union; some 840 members who hold over £140,000 in shares and £101,000 in loans.
Last November, restricted trading was imposed on the SWDCU by the Financial Services Authority, meaning it was unable to receive shares, give share withdrawals or issue loans, although current loans were still repayable.
The SWDCU had hoped that they would be able to trade their way out of the difficulty, however without financial support from the local authorities and Durham
County Council it would have taken too long, and this would not have been acceptable to the Financial Services Authority.
Representatives of SWDCU claim that one possible means of securing the future of the credit union would have been to merge with another credit union.
Local councils, however, failed to provide the support the Union needed, and as a result, the organisation will no longer be in a position to provide its services to the community.
At the present time, the future of the Credit Union is uncertain, with representatives unsure whether it will remain open.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
