The customer base for Wanganui's branch of the Baywide credit union is growing with its shift into Victoria Ave, manager Lynda Matoe says.
NZCU Baywide moved into the main shopping street on June 13. It's a second Wanganui branch for the credit union - the first has been at Wanganui Hospital
for 35 years.
Baywide joins the PSIS and Aotearoa Credit Union in providing not-for-profit financial services in the avenue.
It provided all the services of a bank, except for credit cards, without being a registered bank, Mrs Matoe said. It handled savings, investments, home loans including the Housing New Zealand 100 per cent home loan for first- home buyers, internet banking, text banking and eftpos cards.
Customers could use their cards in any automatic teller machine. No cash was held on the Victoria Ave premises.
Baywide is a co-operative, owned by its members, Mrs Matoe said. She and her fellow workers are all members.
Members vote for the credit union's board, and the board decided it should get more visible in Wanganui by having a branch in town.
Anyone can join. The Wanganui Hospital branch had over 300 members before the move, many of them hospital workers, and that number was now growing daily and weekly, possibly helped by television advertising.
"We've been very busy, busier than they foresaw."
Mrs Matoe, who was formerly at Westpac, said one of the main differences from working in a bank was having more time to talk to customers.
"We can sit them down and give them a cup of coffee. We spend more quality time with them, and that's what I'm enjoying."
NZCU Baywide started in Hawkes Bay in 1971. It then amalgamated with other small credit unions and extended its reach. It's now the biggest credit union in New Zealand, with 30,000 members in the lower and central North Island, and 15 branches.
The organisation has assets of $165 million and reserves of $28 million.
