Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union

Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union, which trades as HEY Credit Union, is a member-owned financial co-operative based in Hull. It describes itself as member-owned and run, providing what it calls an ethical and fair way of saving, and it offers the two things every credit union offers: savings accounts and loans¹. Its website is www.hullandeycu.co.uk, and you can deal with it through its Web App, by telephone, or in person at a branch or contact point².

The credit union was previously known as City Of Hull Credit Union, and its common bond, the rule that defines who may join, now covers a wide stretch of northern England rather than Hull alone². Membership is open to people who live or work within that common bond, and joining means becoming a member and part-owner of the credit union rather than a customer of a bank⁴.

What Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union offers

HEY Credit Union offers the core credit union products: savings, including accounts for junior savers, and loans. Its loan range includes a standard Personal Loan, a Flexi Credit product for members who save through their employer's payroll, and a Matched Loan described as an instant-decision secured loan for members⁷. Its loans carry the UK Treating Customers Fairly 2025 accreditation and include free bereavement cover, with limits applying¹.

Savings with a credit union work differently from a bank account: your money buys shares in the credit union itself, which is why members are owners rather than customers. If you are new to the idea, the site's guide to credit unions explains how the sector works, and the product guides cover savings accounts and loans in depth.

The credit union also runs Payroll Save & Borrow schemes with a list of employers that includes Hull City Council and associated organisations, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, North East Lincolnshire Council, North Kesteven District Council, North Lincolnshire Council and the Department for Work and Pensions, among others¹. Members working for these employers can save and repay loans direct from payroll. The credit union also offers a £100 reward for referring your employer, and you can deal with it through its Web App, by telephone, or at a branch or contact point³.

Loans: personal, Flexi Credit and matched loans

The credit union's loan products are a Personal Loan, the Flexi Credit product for payroll members, and the Matched Loan, a secured loan for members⁷. Its own loan pages carry today's rates, amounts and terms, and those figures change, so check them there before deciding anything. What does not change is how credit union lending is structured, and it works differently from a bank or a high-cost lender.

Members do not need a large savings balance to borrow, but saving history matters. Independent debt guidance says that if you are a member of a credit union, you can usually borrow at least two or three times the amount you have in savings, depending on the credit union's loan policy⁸. The same guidance notes that if you join a credit union and start saving with it, you can apply to borrow once you have proved you are a reliable saver⁹. For longer-term loans and mortgages, you usually need a history of saving with a credit union first¹⁰. No individual under 18 is eligible to receive a loan from the credit union⁴.

Two features of its rules are worth knowing. First, a member can use their shareholdings, excluding Deferred Shares, to guarantee another member's loan, though directors, officers and employees are prohibited from acting as guarantors⁴. Independent guidance on guarantor borrowing notes that in some cases the loan may be secured against property, so anyone asked to guarantee a loan should understand what is at stake before agreeing¹¹. Second, while ABCUL membership conditions apply, the board must arrange loan protection insurance covering members' liability, and life savings insurance covering members' shareholdings, excluding corporate members⁴. These insurances are arranged by the credit union, not underwritten by it.

If you already have a loan and want to check the terms, you have a statutory right to a copy: under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 sections 77, 78 and 79, you can ask for a copy of your credit agreement and a statement of account for a £1 fee¹². The credit union's own rules also require that for loans taken out after 8 January 2012, the loan terms must state whether you may withdraw shares where your shareholding would fall below your total liability, which is how borrowing and savings are kept linked⁴.

Saving with the credit union: how shares work

Savings at HEY Credit Union take the form of shares. Each share has a nominal value of £1.00, and on admission every member must hold and have paid for at least a £1 Non-Deferred Share⁴. Non-Deferred Shares are withdrawable under the rules, are not transferable, and no share certificate is issued⁴. This is the standard credit union model: your savings are withdrawable, but legally you hold shares in the co-operative rather than a debt owed to you.

There are limits on how much any one member may hold. The maximum Non-Deferred Shareholding per member is £10,000 or 1.5 per cent of the total Non-Deferred Shareholdings, whichever is the greater⁴. The minimum shareholding, excluding Deferred Shares, required to remain in membership is a sum not exceeding £5.00⁴. For joint accounts, the maximum shareholding limit is double the limit on an account held by an individual member⁴.

Members receive a statement of account in writing at least annually, or on request⁴. While ABCUL membership conditions apply, the board must arrange life savings insurance cover on members' shareholdings, excluding corporate members⁴. Deferred Shares, a separate category, are non-withdrawable but transferable, repayable only in circumstances set out in the issue document, carry no additional votes, and are not counted towards the minimum or maximum shareholding⁴. They are also outside FSCS protection, which matters when you read the protection section below.

For how savings accounts work across the market, including how credit union dividends compare with bank interest, see the savings accounts guide.

Junior savers convert to full membership at 18

Junior savers at the credit union hold deposits rather than shares, and the rules set their own ceiling: junior savers may hold deposits up to a total of £10,000 or 1.5 per cent of the credit union's total shareholding, whichever is the greater⁴. Junior savers' deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, in the same way as members' Non-Deferred Shares⁴.

The conversion point is fixed in the rules: a junior saver who is eligible for membership converts to full membership at 18 years⁴. One exclusion applies on the way in: no person who has a deposit in a child trust fund account or a junior ISA is eligible for membership until they reach 18⁴. That reflects the wider rules around junior accounts: junior ISAs automatically turn into an adult ISA when the child turns 18, as official HMRC guidance confirms, so a child holding one of those tax wrappers cannot simultaneously hold a credit union membership¹³. Families comparing ways to save for children can read more in the ISAs guide.

Who can join: the common bond area

Every credit union in the UK may only accept members who share a "common bond"¹⁴. The common bond can come from living or working in the same area, working for the same employer, or belonging to the same association such as a trade union or church¹⁵. MoneyHelper describes the same idea: members share a common bond such as living, working, studying or volunteering in a certain area, working in the same industry or for certain employers, or belonging to the same trade union¹⁶. Anyone in the household of a person with a common bond can usually join too¹⁷.

HEY Credit Union's common bond is unusually broad for the sector. Its rules admit individuals who reside in, or are employed in, East Yorkshire county, Lincolnshire county, the area of North Lincolnshire Council, the area of North East Lincolnshire Council, or the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, together with specified employers, occupational groups, tenants of named housing providers, members of Better Futures Club, and relatives in the same household of a member⁴. In practice that means anyone living or working across a large sweep of eastern and northern England, from the Humber to the Yorkshire coast and into Lincolnshire, can apply.

There are caps on the edges of membership. The number of non-qualifying members must not exceed 10 per cent of the total membership, and corporate members are limited to 10 per cent of the total number of members, with corporate members' total shareholdings capped at 25 per cent of fully paid-up Non-Deferred Shares⁴. If you are unsure whether you qualify, the credit union's own site has the current list of eligible employers and housing providers, and the Find Your Credit Union website can locate credit unions anywhere in the UK¹⁵.

Membership charges and dormant accounts

The credit union's rules allow three charges, each capped. An entrance fee may be charged to membership applicants, of an amount not to exceed £5 or any reasonable amount sufficient to cover administration costs⁴. Members may also agree to pay an annual administration fee, again of an amount not to exceed £5⁴. These are maximum figures set in the rules; the credit union's own site states what it actually charges today.

Dormant accounts are treated separately. If a period of 12 months passes without any transactions on a member's account, the credit union may charge an annual administration fee on each dormant account of an amount not to exceed £5⁴. The practical point is simple: an account left untouched for a year can start accruing a small charge, so if you have savings with the credit union you no longer use, either keep a transaction going or close the account properly.

Members can leave, and can be expelled. A member has 14 days from receiving a notice of expulsion to request an appeal, and the expulsion does not take effect until 30 days after the notice was posted, or until the result of any appeal, whichever is later⁴. Any amount due to a withdrawn or expelled member must be repaid within a period of less than 60 days beginning the day after the expulsion or notice of withdrawal⁴.

Withdrawing savings: when up to sixty days' notice can be asked for

Non-Deferred Shares are withdrawable under the rules, but the credit union has a notice power that bank savers will not recognise: the board may request up to sixty days' notice from a member of their intention to withdraw their shareholding⁴. This is a liquidity measure common to credit unions, which lend members' savings back to other members rather than holding a bank's capital buffers. In normal circumstances withdrawals are processed without anything like that delay, but the power exists and a saver planning to withdraw a large balance should ask the credit union how long it currently takes.

Only the member themselves may enter into a loan agreement or make a withdrawal from their share account⁴. That rule protects members from third-party pressure, and it means nobody else, including a family member, can withdraw your savings on your behalf.

Withdrawals are also linked to borrowing. For loans taken out after 8 January 2012, the loan terms must state whether the borrower may withdraw Non-Deferred Shares where their paid-up shareholding is, or would be, less than their total liability⁴. For loans taken out before that date, the board has discretion to consider a withdrawal request that would reduce a member's shareholding below their total liability⁴. In plain terms: while you owe the credit union money, your savings may be locked in as security, and the loan agreement says so.

Joint accounts, nominations and what happens on death

Joint accounts are permitted, with the maximum Non-Deferred Shareholding limit of a joint account set at double the limit on an individual member's account⁴. On death, the joint account becomes the property of the survivor, subject to any contrary written agreement⁴. That matches the general position MoneyHelper describes for joint accounts: if an account holder passes away, the joint account continues in the remaining names¹⁸.

Members can also make a nomination. The rules allow a member, in accordance with the law, to nominate any person or persons to whom any of their property in the credit union at the time of their death shall be transferred⁴. A nomination is a simple way to pass a credit union balance outside the estate, and members should tell the credit union who the nominee is rather than assuming it will be inferred from a will.

There is a further provision for members who lose capacity. Where a member is judged mentally incapable of managing their own affairs and has no appointed administrator, the credit union may pay the amount of any shares, loans and deposits belonging to that member to any person it judges proper to receive it on their behalf, excluding patients detained under the Mental Health Acts or the equivalent Scottish legislation⁴. Members who want certainty about what happens if they cannot manage their own money can read more in the site's guide to money through life's big changes.

Members run the credit union: one member, one vote

Each member holds one vote only, irrespective of the size of their shareholding or the number of accounts held⁴. This is the defining feature of the sector: as the Find Your Credit Union site puts it, each member has one vote and volunteer directors are elected from the membership, by the membership¹⁹. Members are, in the words of another sector body, in control of their own finances and have a say in how their financial service provider is run²⁰.

The democratic machinery is set out in the rules. The annual general meeting must be held within six months of the end of the year of account, and a quorum is 10 per cent of the membership or 15 members, whichever is the lesser⁴. Members can force a special general meeting with a requisition signed by one tenth of the total membership, or 100 members, whichever is the lesser number⁴. Members may propose amendments to the rules by sending them in before the first day of October in any year, and no amendment is valid until registered with the relevant authority; passing one needs a resolution supported by not less than two thirds of the members present and eligible to vote⁴.

Members may not vote by proxy at a general meeting, though postal voting may be used at the board's discretion for board and credit committee elections⁴. The board itself has a minimum of five directors, meets at least monthly, and no director or committee member may be paid for their services beyond approved out-of-pocket expenses while the credit union remains a member of ABCUL, the trade body for credit unions in England, Wales and Scotland⁴. Members are entitled to the paperwork: a copy of the rules is available free on demand on admission, the latest audited accounts must be supplied free of charge to any member or interested person who applies, and any member may inspect their own account and the books containing members' names at reasonable hours at the registered office⁴.

Complaints and the Financial Ombudsman

The credit union must maintain a formal written complaints procedure, available to all members and junior savers, and it aims to give a final response within eight weeks of receiving a complaint⁴. If you need to complain, start there: put it in writing, keep a copy, and note the date you sent it.

If you are dissatisfied after the internal procedure, the rules give you six months from the date of the final response to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service⁴. The ombudsman is free to use and can look at complaints about credit unions as it can about banks and lenders. If, following a formal ombudsman decision, both sides agree, a complainant may refer the dispute to the County Court, or in Scotland the Sheriff Court, which will hear and determine it under section 83 of the Friendly Societies Act 1992⁴.

For more on your rights when things go wrong with a financial firm, see the site's guide to consumer protection in UK financial services, and for where a complaint sits alongside debt problems, the debt guide sets out the free help available.

How your savings are protected

Eligible deposits with Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union are protected up to a total of £120,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and any deposits held above that limit are unlikely to be covered⁶. The £120,000 figure is the standard FSCS limit per depositor, and it applies to credit union savings in the same way as to bank and building society accounts, as the Building Societies Association's consumer factsheet confirms¹⁵.

The credit union's rules state exactly which balances count: members' Non-Deferred Shares and junior savers' deposits are protected by the scheme, while Deferred Shares are not covered⁴. For almost every member that distinction is invisible, because ordinary savings are Non-Deferred Shares. The limit is per depositor, not per account, so two accounts with the credit union share one £120,000 allowance, though a joint account's balance is treated as split between the holders for FSCS purposes.

If the worst happened and the credit union could not repay its members, the FSCS would compensate eligible depositors, and independent guidance confirms that credit union savings sit inside the scheme¹⁵. The site's guide to consumer protection explains how FSCS cover works across banks, building societies and credit unions, and what to do if a firm fails.