Plane Saver Credit Union scoops prestigious personal finance award

‘We are delighted to be recognised for the efforts we make day in, day out, to respond to our members’ needs’

Plane Saver Credit Union has been named the UK’s Ethical Services Provider of the Year at the third annual Money Age Awards.

The awards highlight excellence in the provision of personal finance, and reward the products, organisations and individuals from across the UK that have proved themselves worthy of recognition within this field.

Comedian Lucy Porter hosted the ceremony and presented the awards to personal finance specialists at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London.

Plane Saver chief executive Valerie Walwyn said: “We are delighted to be recognised for the efforts we make day in, day out, to respond to our members’ needs.”

Valerie thanked current and former staff for helping turn Plane Saver into one of the country’s leading credit unions. “Twenty-five years ago, a group of airline engineers set up this credit union as a not-for-profit financial co-operative to help their colleagues access flexible savings and affordable loans,” she said.

“We’ve continued to build on this foundation and now provide a great range of ethical products for our membership base, which currently stands at over 12,5000 employees from the airline industry and the armed forces. I’d like to say a big thank you to the Plane Saver team for all their hard work in getting us here.

“Our mission is simple, and we aim to provide our members with products that make a difference, such as our recently launched ‘Payday Payoff Product’, which helps members transfer high interest bearing payday loans to one of our lower interest loans.”

Just Credit Union (JCU) was also nominated for the Ethical Services Provider of the Year award. The Shropshire-based organisation broke records this year with its biggest ever annual growth in savings of 15%.

Chief officer of JCU, Karen Farrow, said: “The year of record growth reflects the hard work of the JCU team and the valuable support of our members, as well as many of our community partners. Our continuing growth shows we are meeting the needs of the people who live or work in Shropshire and Telford.”