Community Foundation receives benefit

For almost ten years the Ipswich and Suffolk Credit Union has been providing affordable loans to people unable to borrow from the bank. The recent recession has boosted demand for loans and safe savings accounts, with ISCU membership growing by more than 80 new members per month.

Now the imminent demise of cheques has prompted a unique partnership with local grant-maker, the Suffolk Foundation. ‘We wanted to accept debit cards,‘ explained ISCU Director Sally Chicken. ‘Cheques are going, paying cash isn’t always possible, and postal orders are inconvenient for everyone,’ she added. As ISCU will soon be offering accounts to sole traders and voluntary groups, having a debit card processing service will be a great selling point.

Sally spotted that Norfolk based social enterprise Ethecol Merchant Services CIC offer an ethical card processing solution. The social enterprise is backed by the Allied Irish Bank and provides competitive transaction rates as well as contributing 4p per debit card transaction to each customer’s local Community Foundation. On the day ISCU’s card terminal was installed, two customers phoned in to discuss their loans and were delighted to be able to make their next repayment over the phone, then and there.

Commenting on what is the first chip and pin account in Suffolk to automatically donate a small margin to charity, Suffolk Foundation Chief Executive Stephen Singleton said; ‘You have to admire Ethecol’s business model. By sharing their margin with us, we’ll be actively promoting their chip and pin service to as many local businesses as we can. They’ll probably save money and raise money for us every time they take a payment.’

Explaining how his social enterprise can offer both competitive rates and give away margins to charity, Ethecol MD Robert Ashton said; ‘Most merchant service providers have a sales force and find servicing smaller accounts costly. We’ve removed that cost by making our proposition very compelling to both traders and their local Community Foundation.’

The hunt is now on for more Suffolk organisations to use Ethecol card processing technology and raise money for the Suffolk Foundation. Find out more from www.ethecol.com and www.suffolkfoundation.org.uk

ENDS

More info: Robert Ashton 01953 605000 or 07831 441736