Setting up a School Bank

CSandL

I am not sure if this is the right place to post, so apologies in advance.

I am trying to set up a school bank as part of the PSHE and Finance Skills curriculum but I have hit a dead end - HSBC say they are too busy to help me and I found a credit union in Leicestershire who run them but I am not in their area so they aren't allowed to help me.

Does anyone know of anywhere else I can go? I have contacted a credit union in my area but have had no reply. Should I think about setting up a credit union myself? And if so, is there anywhere I can go for training - I am a teacher so I have no idea of how to start!

Thanks for any help anyone can offer me :beer:

Savvy_Sue

Sounds as if you emailed or wrote to your local credit union: I'd suggest a phone call or two ...

I'm not sure I'd set up one yourself, unless there's an 'umbrella body' for school banks.

paddyrg

Maybe start by checking out what other people have done

https://www.sefcu.com/schoolbanking/ for instance
http://www.schoolsavings.com/

CSandL

Thank you, but I really need examples from the UK which seem to be few and far between!

CKhalvashi

CSandL wrote: »

Thank you, but I really need examples from the UK which seem to be few and far between!

It may be worth booking an appointment through HSBC's telephone system, as quite often what's said in the branch, and reality are two different things.

I set a school bank up around 9 years ago with HSBC, and as far as I'm aware, the project is still running.

CK

CSandL

Thank you, the branch said they are running another school bank in my area so they can't run one for me - would that be your experience? It is so hard to know who to speak to about these things and as you will know, I can't get people to phone me back because I am not free. It is so frustrating!

CKhalvashi

CSandL wrote: »

Thank you, the branch said they are running another school bank in my area so they can't run one for me - would that be your experience? It is so hard to know who to speak to about these things and as you will know, I can't get people to phone me back because I am not free. It is so frustrating!

Before becoming entrepreneurial, I was a secondary teacher, and as far as I'm aware, there were the 4 schools in the district I taught running a similar scheme, with the same branch of HSBC.

Whether or not the rules have changed, I don't know, but what I do know, is that there was circa £300k there for most the year, that HSBC were making use of.

CK