Can Credit
Unions
Replace
Banks?
Credit unions were
originally involved in providing affordable
finance to those who would struggle to
obtain finance from a 'high street' lender,
or who could only get weekly collected
credit at rates that have no place in
today's society. However, UK credit unions
now number :-
close to 700 locations,
and 280,000 members,
with £170m in assets,
Interest is charged at a
maximum of 1% per month,
with a repayment term of
two years for unsecured lending and five
years for secured lending,
average annual share of
'surplus funds' between 3 - 5% (similar to
interest on deposits),
with a maximum of 8%,
and members must be 18
years old or over,
Impressive figures, which
is why it is now common for police, firemen,
local councils and sport supporters clubs to
have credit unions. Members of credit
unions are credit checked by their
performance of making deposits and what is
generally known about them: an unemployed
mum with two kids who maintains regular
deposits has as much right to a 'relative'
loan as a full-time worker.
The Association of
British Credit Unions (ABCUL) have a free
booklet available by calling 0161 832 3694.
The UK is a bit short on Internet credit
unions, but the USA have some very good
sites for an idea of how they work.
Shell Credit Union
Lockheed Credit Union
Corporate America Family Credit Union
Bank Closures ;
With the closure of a
vast number of much needed banking resources
(profitable branches included) credit unions
may well have their time to support
communities on a scale not previously
envisaged. In the USA loans are provided for
every conceivable purpose and off-shoot
business opportunities, alliances and
partnerships grow from within.
One day, your local
credit union may well provide you with a
cash loan, mortgage, home, car and personal
insurance, credit cards... well! everything
that the banks supplied, and probably a lot
more, for a lot less cost. In fact, if your
local area shows it' self to be a sound
target for financial institutions, they may
well want to move back in!
INSOLVENCY
Too many people are going bankrupt
needlessly. Many of them could avoid the
stigma and practical problems of insolvency
by using Individual Voluntary Arrangements.
IVAs are an agreed arrangement between
debtors and their creditors where the
insolvent person is a able to reduce the
amount owed by up to 95%, stop all interest
and pay back the capital amount only over
the space of 1 to 5 years. Thus protecting
the individuals home, family, career and
livelihood.
People who enter into
IVAs generally fall into two categories
1-Owners of small
businesses
Such as the self
employed, partners and the sole traders....
frequently the entrepreneurs the company
needs.
2-Regular
employed(PAYE)
Individuals who have
built up unsecured loans and credit cards.
Apart from people who simply spend their way
into debt by their spending habits, business
people who figure highly in the insolvency
statistics include company directors who
gave personal guarantees on their companies
and professionals who got their fingers
burned on the property market Creditors are
increasingly agreeing to IVAs, they receive
partial repayment and often receive 100
pence in the pound. As opposed to the
bankruptcy route which is a cost to the
whole country and deprives creditors of
payment.
What does an IVA cost
Although Sorskys charge
for their services to help people deal with
their financial problems, the strong case is
for IVA's is that as no up front fees are
charged. (Fees are taken out of the
voluntary contributions) therefore debtor is
not disadvantaged.
If you have a problem
call Sorskys FREE on 0800 597 47588
You are only one call away from free advice
and piece of mind.
THIS WEEKS TOPIC 2
Were You Born to
Manage by Alan Bird
Running your own business can be undermined
by one-key element: your ability to manage.
Having the product, resource and cash to
start a business is but a side-show compared
to your ability to get th best from those
around you, and of course yourself. If you
are a business owner and you acknowledge
your lack of conventional managerial skills:
you could be loosing any of the following,
and possibly all:
Tangible losses: -
productivity, sales, revenue, and
profitabilityy
Intangible losses: -
honesty, respect, hope, effort,
Being accepted as a
manager by your colleagues is one of the
most notable pinnacles in anyone’s career.
Rising within a company is a goal most of us
share: whether or not in private we believe
that we may never achieve such heights. The
question has always been ‘born to lead’ with
natural ability – or ‘brought through’ by a
mentor or by company indoctrination.
Whatever you believe – I think a bit of both
is generally the case but that one or the
other will also succeed – a potential
manager must want to be a manager.
The small business owner
does not usually want to be a manager, but a
successful businessperson. We all know of
the business owner who is a “diamond to work
for”, and “a real nice chap” – well! I know
of very few successful businesspeople that
fit any of these descriptions. I do know
many successful business owners that could
be described as “she’s ok, a bit pushy, but
only expects a fair days work from you”.
The No.1 reason given by
staff as the quality they most look for in a
manager is ‘leadership’, not how nice they
are to their fellow workers. The manager, to
be thought of as a leader, needs two main
qualities:
Competence
A sound knowledge of all
areas of responsibility: be that helping
staff to understand the practical workings
of a machine, or the theory of completing a
share purchase at a stock exchange. If you
as a manager do not know when things are not
working as they should, or how to improve
systems, or spot opportunities, staff will
suffer from a lack of confidence in your
ability, and ultimately a lack of respect.
Achievement
By definition
‘achievement’ suggests something over and
above the normal. It is human nature to ‘do
your job’, and not to seek extra loading in
your daily routine. It is therefore a great
quality in a manager to be able to achieve
difficult targets where this means gaining
the full co-operation and commitment of
subordinate staff.
Look at people you know
in managerial positions: do they ‘lead’
their staff, individually and as a team, to
greater achievements or ‘manage’ their
staff’s daily routine.
Small business owners
have to be very much aware of their impact
on staff. On the one hand you try to
encourage individuals to ‘treat the business
as your own’ and on the other hand, you can
be so close to the action that you see every
mistake, waste of material/time, or
inefficient or ineffective situation which
can, and often does, lead to extreme
criticism of the staff member.
Letting some of your
staff ‘treat the business as your own’ can
result in them coming in half an hour later
than everyone else in the morning, a two
hour lunch break, chatting to a suppliers
secretary all afternoon and golfing every
Wednesday afternoon. Expecting staff to
truly feel and exhibit the same response to
pressure that you feel as the owner is
unrealistic in almost every case. Now! If
you decided to offer equity in your
business…
With the issue of working
close to the staff and feeling frustrated at
inefficiencies, you need to adopt a damage
limitation policy. This means not shouting
at young Tom every time he does something
wrong – not even in jest. If you were being
shouted at every day you would be unlikely
to care about your job, see any future or
get any better at what you do. If your
business only consists of you and young Tom,
you need to adopt a mentoring style – talk,
teach and watch (believe in the end product,
being that Tom will be equal, if not in
advance, to your own capabilities). If you
have a number of staff, you can use part
mentoring (by yourself), part delegation (to
Tom’s immediate boss) and the fostering of a
positive spirit in the workplace.
The subject of people
management is as complex as people are
themselves. Time and experience will improve
an individuals ability to manage staff and
gain results, however, is that ability built
on dogmatic management attitudes or on all
the benefits of good leadership?
Many books, videos and
courses exist on this vast subject with many
aimed at the small business/owner. It is
virtually impossible to become an expert
manager without some form of instruction.
The time/resource/cost taken to understand
this subject can be minuscule compared to
the improvement in profitability that stems
from good management and leadership.
