Other loans are made to improve the quality of life of members by allowing members to buy furniture or appliances or other goods without having to carry expensive hire purchase agreements. As soon as you start your own Savings and Credit Co-operative you take greater control over your financial life. Banks have to pay high overhead costs for branches, elaborate computer systems and many salaried employees. Banks also have to return a profit to their shareholders. In a Savings and Credit Co-operative the user of the service is the owner and the profits stay with the members.
Overheads are very low and salaries are minimized because of the contribution of volunteers.
This allows the Co-operative to offer very specific financial services to members for a lot less than a bank can. Stop order deductions make savings easy and assure loan repayment, almost eliminating risk. There are no direct charges to members. However, certain age limitations apply. After you have paid for the costs of running the co-operative, any surplus or profit is distributed to the members according to their patronage.