Baillieston Credit Union

General information

Baillieston Credit Union was the brainchild of Baillieston pensioner Anna Cardwell who realised the need for Credit Union in Baillieston, which would give low-income families and single parents access to low cost loans whilst building savings. She got together with about a dozen other interested people and set up a steering group who would then become the first Board of Directors of Baillieston Credit Union. The met every Thursday night for 18 months where they were trained in all aspects of running a Credit Union and were trained by member of SCUDA (Strathclyde Credit Union Development Agency).

In October Baillieston Credit Union Ltd opened its doors for the first time in St Bridget's Ladyhall and much to our surprise we had over a 100 people join that night. Thereafter collections were held in the Social Work Offices in Buchanan Street on a Thursday evening.

As the membership grew it became apparent quite quickly that one evening a week wasn't going to be enough and few months after the Credit Union opened we added a Monday morning as a collection day as well as the Thursday evening. In 1999 we introduced a computerised system for accounts.

Over the next couple of years the membership increased substantially as well as our pool of volunteers to cope with the increased workload and in 2000 the board realised that we had outgrown using the Social Work offices and started looking for suitable premises.

In October 2002 we moved to our new premises at 94 Main Street where we still are today.