The Barbados Public Workers’ Cooperative Credit Union Ltd. (BPWCCUL) Youth Savers Programme, known as the Thrift Club, has been formally reintroduced with the goal of making it simpler for children to save money.
This assurance was given by Gail Best-Niles, Chief Marketing & Member/Customer Experience Officer at the BPWCCUL, during the official relaunch of the initiative at the Courtyard by Marriott, Hastings, Christ Church, on Tuesday.
She told Barbados TODAY that the credit union had spoken at length with a number of the clubs located in the schools, as well teachers and parents of students about the challenges of the product, and the recurring theme was cost of the membership being a restrictive factor, particularly in the current economic climate.
Given that reality, the credit union sought permission from membership and regulators to change the by-laws to bring the new membership cost into effect.
“The Thrift Club membership now is $50. Before it was $120. It became a challenge, especially for the school savers, when they were saving at school and they could not really open an account until they reached that $120 threshold. But now with that lower threshold of $50, between their savings and even if the parents then wanted to make that contribution, I thought that is one of the best [changes] we had,” Best-Niles explained.
She said teachers from the various schools have welcomed the change.
“Not everyone has a big allowance, and so $50 to me is an achievable target. We have a lot of schools reaching out and asking questions, and we know that was one of their concerns because then the teacher is saying ‘Well we have to keep the money until it reaches that amount to open the account’, but now you can open the account with $50.
Several children whose schools are part of the Thrift Club initiative attended the launch. (SB)
“We do have a lot of savers right now, it’s a big saving club, but we are looking forward to the Thrift Club [growing]. I am hoping that it will double within the next year quite frankly,” Best-Niles said.
She also teased that a new website would be launched later this year to help educate young people on joining the thrift club initiative on their own, without needing to be in one within their schools.
“We are looking to do a website later this year, which will be more direct access for all those who want to save – but not through the school savers – and want to join a thrift club. It can really be educational for them and they can pose their questions [there]. We are really looking forward to some really exciting things happening with the Thrift Club this year,” the marketing officer said.
Other changes made to the product include individual membership accounts now being available to children 0-15 years of age, MasterCard Debit Card for those 16 years and older, and monthly e-statements. (SB)
