On January 19th Hoot will be 20 years old and we aim to celebrate our birthday year in style.

Although credit unions have been around in Bolton and Bury since 1990, Hoot was created (firstly known as Quids In) in 2005 to cover the whole of Bolton, and then Bury, making sure that everyone in the boroughs gained access to affordable credit and savings.

Since then we have achieved so much, becoming what is now a thriving community-owned business.

Since 2005 we have lent out over £20m and estimate to have saved borrowers over £36 in loan interest by coming to Hoot rather than predatory lenders.

Today our members have over £2.3m in savings, and 85% of our savings are saving for the first time.

We now offer online services, instant access to savings, and loans to suit everyone.

Here are some of the things we are going to do to celebrate our birthday year:

Planting the Seeds of Membership – we will be planting a tree for every new member who opens an account and starts saving in 2025 (up to 1,000 trees). Planting trees is our way of living out our ethos as an ethical organisation that truly cares. It’s about more than just numbers – it’s about creating a better, greener world for everyone. Find out more about this at https://wisewithmoney.org.uk/20th-year-anniversary

Member giveaways – Every month in 2025 we will draw a lucky member who will receive a Hoot birthday hamper of goodies worth up to £100. We will make the draw at the end of each month and inform the lucky member of what they have won. Build your savings even more to help the community – Members can now save up to £30,000 in Hoot^. For every £1 you save, you are helping someone else in your community access affordable credit, and improve their financial well-being. What better way to support your community! If you open a Christmas Savings account and save for ten consecutive weeks or three consecutive months up until November 2025, you will be entered into a free draw to win up to £250 savings bonus. Open your Christmas saver today https://wisewithmoney.org.uk/savings/christmas-savings

If you haven’t already done so – opening your savings account today https://wisewithmoney.org.uk/savings

We are having a party! We aim to hold our birthday party at our Bolton branch on World Co-op Day, Saturday 5 July. Join us for fun activities and goodies, and help us celebrate 20 years of co-operative community-owned financial services. More details later in 2025.

We look forward to sharing our birthday celebrations with you.

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*Members who are saving and borrowing. Members in arrears will not qualify
^Savings are not interest bearing and are subject to a dividend or share of the profit depending on credit union performance. Savings are protected by the FSCS.