Lockdown galvanises Norwich Credit Union to transform digital services

Tuesday 23 January 2024

As Norwich Credit Union (NCU) entered lockdown, it had to adapt quickly ensure it could continue to meet the financial needs of its members.

“We quickly enlisted RSign to enable us to offer the ability to get loan agreements signed electronically, eliminating the need for attendance at our now closed service points” says Director of Norwich Credit Union, Danny Thomas.

NCU also changed its loan application processing and started using Open Banking via Lending Metrics eliminating the requirement for members to submit paper bank statements.

Danny added: “All of this has also allowed us to move more confidently into the instant loan market. Currently we require members to join and save for 13 weeks before they are eligible for a loan, and then at only double what they have managed to save.”

Danny is a graduate of the first year of the CU Futures programme and reflecting on his own development, he said: “My experience as a member of the inaugural CU Futures cohort has proved invaluable throughout this period.

“As well as giving me the confidence in my opinions and convictions to pitch to my more experienced fellow board members it has opened up a brilliant support network of fellow graduates that I can call on for advice or support. An example of how this has helped is that I was able to ask a favour of a fellow CU Future participant experience of one of the new processes we adopted to give us some training ahead of implementation. Participation in the CU Futures programme has been of enormous help to me and to Norwich Credit Union.”

Looking ahead to the future, Danny believes the Credit Union is in a good position to continue to provide its valued service to the community, he said: “With these new processes we are now more confident we can cater to a whole new market, those who need loans quickly, which will put us in direct competition with nefarious loan sharks and payday lenders.”