–low interest car loans, mortgages to be made available

WITH the Annual General Meeting (AGM) out of the way, the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU), from Monday, is expected to pay out $285 million in dividends to members for the period, 2011 to 2020. Members had previously been paid an interim dividend of three per cent for the period 2011 – 2013. However, the total dividend is now 10.75 per cent, which means members will now be paid their balance. Additionally, members will soon have access to cheaper options for car loans and mortgages as the newly installed Committee of Management is hoping to begin giving out low interest loans as early as next month. Borrowers would be able to get up to $5 million for car loans, and up to $15 million for mortgages at an interest as low as 1 to 3 per cent. Members will not require guarantors or a down payment.

These new developments were revealed by member of the GPSCCU Committee of Management, Trevor Benn, who said that improvements are part of promises made by his team in the lead up to credit union’s recently held elections. Benn heads the team which won all 12 spots on the Committee of Management. He is tipped to be elected as the chairman when the committee holds its first meeting. Benn had been Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) that has been running the credit union since May, 2018. Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, Benn said that his party made a number of promises during their campaigning for the elections, and now that they have won, they plan to see those things implemented.
“We are very serious of placing our members at the centre of every decision. They are the reason we are where we are and they must be given top priority. We want to reach out a lot more to our members to get their views on how they want to see the credit union managed,” Benn stated.

He noted that opening up the credit union to offer large-scale loans was foremost in the team’s promises, and so they are looking forward to seeing it realized. According to Benn, he is not sure why large-scale loans have never previously been issued by the union, but noted that at last Sunday’s AGM, a few rules of the credit union were changed to ensure the smooth proceeding of the new loan facilities. “They always could have done it, but they never did it for one reason or the other. I’m not sure why. We came in and we felt it was a need and we moved on it. We made a few superficial amendments to the rules at this last AGM that took away any impediments whatsoever, but there was no major impediment stopping us in the past,” Benn said. According to Benn, the loans will be open to any member; however, applicants will be assessed and qualified based on their income and ability to repay. For the car loans, members will be able to access payment terms of up to four years.

He said the procedures governing the loans will be very similar to those that persons would encounter when taking a loan or mortgage from any commercial bank, with a few exceptions.
“Our lawyers will have to do the technical stuff that has to be done. It will be like anything that you had to do at the bank, except that with the loans, you don’t have to have a down payment. All you will need is your title. Once you are a member of good standing, and you have a job that will allow you to make the repayments, you are good to go, you are eligible,” Benn said.
He informed that systems will be in place for cases where the members default on the loans, to ensure sustainability of the new facilities.

“We have to have a way of making sure if you fail to pay that we can get access to the item, so there will be steps in place to deal with people who are unable to make their payments,” he noted.
Benn shared that he is very elated to see the credit union moving forward with the loans, as these will be a great help to those members who have been having difficulties sourcing loans at other financial institutions. “Credit union has always been the place that people turn to when they can’t get loans at other places; so our members are really looking forward to this and we just want to ensure we get it done. A lot of arrangement has gone into this so far. We’re ready to roll it out and we believe it’s a big deal for our members. We are looking forward to making it easier for them, as we’ve always done,” Benn said. “Obviously, we don’t have money to lend every single member but we have set aside sufficient funds to make sure we can do as many as possible this year,” he added.