Credit union in administration after being declared insolvent

Administrators are working to return savings to members of a North West credit union that has been declared insolvent.

The members’ committee of North East Warrington Credit Union (NEWCU) resolved to place the company into administration on May 4, 2022, appointing Mike Dillon and Andrew Poxon of Leonard Curtis Group as joint administrators.

NEWCU entered administration as it is unable to meet its regulatory requirements because of a number of historic bad debts.

It was a community co-operative and not-for-profit organisation, owned and run by its members for its members. Membership was based on people sharing the ‘common bond’ of living and/or working in the Warrington area.

NEWCU provided its members with the ability to save or borrow money and provided services to those who had a low income and those who did not have a record of borrowing.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared the company in default, which means it can step in and return money to members.

The administrators have been liaising with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding plans for winding down the business and they will continue to work with the PRA, FCA and FSCS to achieve a satisfactory outcome.

They said they would like to assure customers that their funds are safe.

In most cases, customers’ savings will be paid back to them within seven days of the date the firm was declared in default by FSCS. Customers do not need to do anything.

FSCS will automatically pay customers back their savings using the account information it receives from the company. FSCS will contact customers by post.

A dedicated email address has been set up at newcu@leonardcurtis.co.uk for customer and creditor enquiries.