Services from Partners Credit Union help with Universal Credit

Partners Credit Union is helping current members as well as other low income residents that are impacted by welfare changes. They have programmes that people can turn to for budgeting advice, such as Jam Jar accounts, and the organisation can also help customers apply for loans for paying their bills while they wait on their government benefits. Other services include rent accounts as well as allowing members to have benefits paid directly to their credit cards.

Families receiving the Universal Credit are facing challenges in managing their benefits and ensuring their bills and rent is paid on time. Working with the Liverpool council and other agencies, Partners Credit Union is striving to help make this transition successful, and has many products for impacted residents and members.

One service for preventing future evictions is the Direct Rent Account. This is a service that will ensure the proper portion of a customer’s housing allowance is paid directly to their landlord, which will prevent homelessness and help ensure the tenancy remains in effect. Landlords need to agree to this programme, but if both the tenant and landlord due agree, then Partners Credit Union will ensure rent payments are made on time.

Universal Credit Benefits can be paid directly to the credit union onto a debit card, if they so choose. The advantage of this is the lender will ensure that the customer has enough money in their account to cover expenses and bills they have before they can use the money for other needs. So the union will make sure they have funds for rent, any Loan Repayments, Savings, water and utility bills, and more. This is a form of budgeting facilitated by the Credit Union.

Budgeting is also part of the Jam Jar accounts. This also helps customers save money for their household expenses. Partners Credit Union will budget the money correctly, using their systems, for bills such as TV licence, loan repayments, council tax, gas bills, food, and other expenses the person has.

Then, at the correct time of the month, the Jam Jar programme will allow Partners to pay the company that is owed the money. This ensure that no bills go unpaid, and the benefits that are provided from the Universal Credit will be handled properly.

The services above are aimed at helping the customer budget and also pay their bills on time. However there are times when people are facing an emergency or shortfall in income, or maybe they are waiting for additional funds from the Universal Credit. During these periods, loans may be issued by the company to help.

The Liverpool credit union provides borrowers much lower interest rates that other banks, and the money can be used to pay for expenses such as rent arrears to prevent an eviction. They even have a payday loan alternative that has interest rates as low as 26%, which is much cheaper that lenders such as Wonga.

The money borrowed can be used for a variety of living expenses. Some people may use the money for fuel bills or other one-off costs, even including rent payments. It is at the discretion of the customer.

Partners Credit Union and its staff assist people on benefits across the city of Liverpool, and the loans as well as the budgeting services are one more resource that can help when facing a hardship. The funds and these services are only for members, so people will need to join if they have no already. For more information on how they can help people impacted by the Universal Credit or other benefit changes, call 0151 258 1014.