Episode 10 A Matter of Life and Debt

Everyday, all over the country, millions of people are struggling

to find the cash they need to make ends

meet or to realise their dreams.

Applying to get a top-up on my loan.

-50, 60, 5.

-Thank you.

-OK.

We are looking to offer you a loan.

Many struggle to qualify for high-street borrowing,

making them vulnerable to illegal loan sharks.

Looking back now, I realised the APR for that loan was nearly 800%,

which is...

But there are a growing number of community banks or credit unions

that are offering a helping hand,

whilst at the same time supporting the local area.

The confidence and the support

I received empowered me to think bigger.

From household emergencies to kick-starting a new life or business.

She started from zero and she became a hero.

It's such an amazing story, very crazy, but here we are.

We are following some of these life-changing stories.

We wouldn't have been able to set it up like this if we didn't have that loan.

It basically meant that something I never thought I'd ever do in my

life was actually going to happen.

Dreams can come true, with a bit of hard work and financial assistance.

If I didn't get that done, then this wouldn't have been possible.

So it's a win-win situation, really.

Today, a loan gives an animal lover a new career.

What do I love most in the world?

Dogs. How amazing would it be to spend every day with dogs?

A personal trainer struggling with the weight of her debts.

Oh, God, I'll never forget that day

I had to come clean and tell everybody,

it was the worst day of my life.

And a musician hoping to borrow to make it big.

# Redemption songs. #

-That's all you're getting for now.

-Yay!

Most of us rely on some sort of credit.

With unsecured debt in the UK approaching £200 billion,

it's clear we are not shy of spending -

even if it is borrowed.

I ran up debts of about £15,000.

It was very easy to run up that kind of money.

But not everyone can access credit

from traditional high-street lenders.

Those on low incomes or with bad credit ratings are sometimes forced

to turn to payday loans or illegal moneylenders.

I didn't read between the lines, because you may be borrowing £100

but you're going to be paying back 300, so it just doubles and triples

in price and that is when things started to get hairy.

A small loan with high interest can easily end up escalating

into unmanageable debt.

But there are alternatives.

A growing number of responsible lenders are trying to help.

Good morning, can I help you?

I've come to pick up my loan.

Credit unions have been helping people borrow responsibly

and encouraging them to save for over 50 years.

That's how much is available.

-50, 60, 80.

-Thank you.

Together, these non-profit-making community banks boast almost

two million members...

-Can I please apply for a loan?

-Sure.

..and currently have £1.25 billion

out on loan.

Thank you.

London Capital is one of the oldest credit unions in Britain.

They have been helping local people since the 1960s.

London Capital Credit Union, how can I help you?

Martin is a manager here.

I can trace this route back to 1962

when it was operated from a metal tin in the back of a church in Hornsey.

We have just over 15,000 adult members and we are growing at about

200 to 300 a month.

We have just over £12 million in savings and, interestingly,

90% of our members had no savings before they joined us,

so that means there is over £10 million of savings

that ordinary people across London have managed to save

with us that they wouldn't have had access to previously.

One member hoping for a small loan today is singer-songwriter Dan.

-Good afternoon, how can I help you?

-I've come for a loan, basically.

-OK. My name is Patricia, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

What sort of loan are you looking for?

-How much are you looking to borrow?

-Around about 500.

-500.

What is the purpose of the loan?

It's basically for a trip to America. I'm a singer-songwriter.

-OK.

-And a record label is interested in meeting me.

-OK.

-And they have said just get over here to discuss releasing my album.

The record label is run by Makeda Marley,

-Bob Marley's daughter.

-OK.

Marley set the label up when he was alive for emerging artists,

so this trip is quite important.

And very important to you to get there as well, yeah.

-It sounds like reggae to me.

-It is reggae.

-Oh, OK, it sounds very good.

MUSIC PLAYS

35-year-old singer-songwriter Dan

takes his inspiration from the music of legendary Jamaican reggae artist

Bob Marley.

INDISTINCT SINGING

My mother is to blame, actually, for my insatiable love of reggae music,

because that's all she played in the house.

The young Dan not only loved the music,

but found it had an extraordinary impact on his life.

As a child, I couldn't really speak very well,

I couldn't even string a sentence together, it was a real struggle.

Mum used to say that it was quite sad to watch a child struggling

to get a word out.

I found that when I sung I didn't stammer.

Dan's discovery set him on a path to becoming a successful singer.

I started recording about 12, 13,

then about 16, joined a band.

Did vocals in a band called the Dub Pistols for about two years,

played Glastonbury and festivals around the country,

Europe, had a blast, signing autographs, album signings,

playing to 80,000 people in Poland, 2012,

televised to 2.8 million people.

Just talking about it is exhausting.

As quickly as Dan's career had taken off,

it came crashing down around him, taking Dan with it.

It has been quite testing,

quite trying over the past sort of few years.

At one period, about two years ago, I was homeless.

My ego took a real beating, because you've got nowhere to live,

you're sleeping on people's sofas, you're just hustling,

you're walking around on the streets for hours until you can

find someone else's couch to sleep on, stuff like that.

So, your mind's all over the place, but what anchored me was my dream.

Now Dan is putting his life back together and he's performing and

recording music again, with his friend George.

But his biggest break has come through meeting and befriending

Bob Marley's daughter Makeda via social media.

We just got to talking and we clicked and she said,

"I run a record label that my father set up called Tough Love.

"I've seen some of your music online and I'd like to actually meet you,"

and discuss releasing my album. This is totally crunch time for me.

Dan has got some money saved towards meeting Makeda in Philadelphia,

but it's nowhere near enough to pay for the entire trip.

I need roughly about £800 and I haven't got that kind of money,

so I'm banking on Credit Union.

I've been a member of Credit Union for about five years now

and this is my first loan I'm going for.

What better reason than trying to get to America to meet Bob Marley's daughter?

Dan will have to wait to see if he is able to borrow the money

to live his dreams.

Helping the community is at the heart of ethical lending.

And to become a member of most credit unions,

you usually have to live or work in the local area.

Credit Union, can I help you?

-40, 50, 60, 5.

-Thank you, Lisa.

-OK.

All right. Thank you.

We are a community bank, so we're all neighbours,

we all live and work within our catchment area

and that is our common bond. So if we do need work,

we try wherever we can to use members of our community.

Handyman Robert has been a member

of his credit union for over seven years.

Robert is one of the very early members, he has his own

small business. Robert is a very good workman. Actually,

he came in and fixed my desk.

Hello, Pat, can I put £20 into shares one, please,

and pay £20 off my loan?

I use the account to manage my everyday banking needs and also to

borrow money at a very low interest

to fund tools and equipment that I use for my handyman business.

-How are you today?

-Yeah, bit busy, Pat.

I found that the credit union over the years has been extraordinarily

supportive. Thank you.

It's nice to be able to spread that community thing.

If you can help to bring up other members of your community,

it can only benefit the whole community.

Thanks, see you soon. Bye.

As well as personal finance,

responsible lenders regularly help to kick-start small businesses.

Right, dude. What can I get for you, pal?

I had enough working for somebody else.

I needed to do my own thing.

As the numbers increased, we regularly recruited staff.

I couldn't imagine doing anything else, ever.

We've had our ups and downs,

just like any other family would in a family business.

But you just move on from it and you just get on because,

at the end of the day, we've got a business to run.

I feel so proud and so lucky to have been able to do this.

It all started with that first loan.

Having a bright idea is one thing,

but many would-be business owners

struggle to borrow money from traditional sources.

That's where the credit unions

and responsible lenders come into their own.

I knew there was absolutely no chance of any of the high street

banks giving me any money whatsoever.

If I had never had that loan,

I probably would never have fulfilled my dream.

The thing that makes all the difference is to be taken seriously

and be looked at as an individual.

If it wasn't for the money they've given us, we wouldn't have been able

to complete and we wouldn't have been able to have the equipment that we have.

Vicky is one person who turned to a non-for-profit lender to help her

get her business idea to be a dog minder off the ground.

I adore dogs to the point if it was only dogs that was in my life,

I wouldn't be too fussed about it, to be honest.

Vicky has been in business for six years

and the local canine population of Blantyre, near Glasgow,

can't wait for her to show up at their front door.

I'm just going to stop in this estate down here for Elvis.

He's a really great character, really loving dog.

Goes nuts. Every day he sees us,

it's like he's never seen us for weeks at a time. But he's great.

He usually sits at his window here. There, he's there.

Sits waiting on us.

Come on, baby. Right, my darling.

Vicky's love of dogs started at an early age.

When I was younger, we had a dog called Sheba.

Never left my side as a kid.

She was just an absolute darling.

And it just made me realise, wow, dogs are amazing.

Vicky trained as a physiotherapist,

but she pined for a very different career.

I decided, what do I love most in the world?

Dogs. How amazing would it be just to spend every day with dogs?

So about 2009, I started working, dog walking.

I did that for a couple of years

and then I decided that I wanted to do my own business.

I thought, well, I have my own business,

I can work with the dogs exactly the way I want to work with the dogs.

Although Vicky had some savings, it quickly became clear she was

going to need an awful lot more money.

The key things I needed to start the business would be a vehicle to

transport the dogs, collect them, take them away,

and all the equipment for inside the vehicle.

And also you would need to have your dog insurance,

your liability insurance.

You need your sign writing on your van.

Reluctant to take on a traditional bank loan,

Vicky started to explore other options.

I didn't want the business to start off with debt, basically,

as a new business.

Come on, then!

So my partner,

he had always saved in the credit union and he had said to me,

"How much would you need for a vehicle to start with?"

And they were coming up about £2,000, £2,500.

He said, "I can get that out the credit union."

I think that within that week I had the vehicle to start.

With just five dogs on her books,

the £2,500 loan seemed a big investment.

But it quickly started to pay off.

I think because I was so happy in what I was doing with the dogs,

I think it showed.

And I think

that's why the customers I had then spoke so well of me.

Come here!

Come here the noo. Come here till I see you.

Come here so I see you.

Within a couple of weeks, I would say that I had doubled.

And then within about three months I was at full capacity.

Vicky's next investment was renting a seven-acre patch of land for the

dogs to run about on.

She's convinced it is the secret to her success.

It is amazing to have this up here to be able to allow the dogs to be dogs.

Come on, let's go.

They get to actually really stretch what they're doing, exercise-wise,

without, you know, interrupting anybody,

interrupting any of the public.

With happy dogs come happy customers.

Sky just adores Vicky, wants to be with her all the time.

I sometimes think she would rather live with Vicky than myself.

They love it. They are out with Vicky for a good couple of hours,

they come home, straight to bed. That's them all night.

If I could send them out every single day,

I would send them out every day with her. Yeah, she's great.

Vicky's business was going from strength to strength.

But in 2016, she returned from a weekend away with her husband

to find her vehicles had been vandalised.

This was the first van that was ever a Healthy Hounds van

that we first owned.

And every wheel had been slashed.

All the tyres were down and the other three business vehicles,

scrapes on them also.

And one had acid thrown over the roof and the bonnet of the vehicle.

Everything had been going so well for the business.

You know, I had four vehicles on the road.

All my girls were trained, they were doing great.

Came home to see that somebody had actually, you know,

took time out of their time

to vandalise, not just one of the vehicles,

but every single one of them. It was absolutely devastating, yeah.

With all the vehicles off the road,

Vicky had to move quickly to protect her business.

The one thing about this business is I do not like letting my customers

down and the dogs not getting out on their walks.

Because everybody is at work, that's why we do the service we do.

It's not like when that happened to the vehicles

I could call up a rental place and be like,

"Can I rent four vans today?" because they are not kitted out.

It takes a lot to kit out - your proper cages so they don't move

when you're driving, so the dogs are secure in them.

So straightaway it was like I have to get these vehicles

back on the road as soon as possible.

By now, Vicky was a member of the Lanarkshire Credit Union herself,

so she turned to them for help.

There she met loan manager Myra Dolan.

She was really, really upset.

She was in floods of tears, panic about, "What are we going to do?

"I'm going to let all these people down."

So I sat her down, had a cup of tea.

"Right, come on, let's see what we can do here."

Had a look at her account,

realised, yes, she could borrow without any problem.

Her savings was up to date.

Any previous loans had been cleared.

From start to finish, coming in and going out,

probably about half an hour.

I took out...I think it was 2,500 against my savings.

And that got all the tyres fixed, all the vans,

all the vans were back on the road by the end of the day.

The credit union had the money in my account by lunchtime that day,

which was just fantastic.

And also it left money left over, which we then invested in CCTV

so it can never happen again.

It was a couple of weeks later,

she actually came down and we were at the car park, the van was all

prepared, the Healthy Hounds were back on the road and things,

so that was really, really good. Really good.

I just couldn't believe how nice the credit union were.

The way they were with me was just fantastic.

From as soon as I walked in that door

they just wanted to do anything they could to help me.

And it took away the total negative factor of what had happened

that morning.

My business still ran that day without it being affected,

thanks to the credit union.

And thanks to...

great people.

At London Capital Credit Union,

singer-songwriter Dan is hoping to get a loan.

If you have got your back statements handy while you're completing the

form, I'll have a look through your bank statements for you.

-I've got them handy, yes.

-OK, thank you.

-These are the most recent ones.

-Yeah.

He needs to borrow £500 to fly to the States for a meeting that

could change his life.

I notice on your bank statement that there is a debt management...

-Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah.

-For £15?

That's been paid off now, though, yes.

He is hoping to meet with Bob Marley's daughter Makeda

and secure a record deal on the Marley family label.

So, when you complete the form on the back,

-you need to list that DWP being paid off.

-Sure.

-Because it is showing on your bank statement.

-OK.

Dan has been with us for a little while, but he's never saved with us.

We look at is paperwork and look at

his situation and then see what we can do for him.

By looking at what you have shown me here on your bank statements,

it seems as if you are managing your money OK. And this is showing that

-you are able to afford the loan that we are going to offer you.

-So far, so good.

Yes. I'll approve your loan for you for the £500.

-OK.

-All right? So if you would like to...

-Approved already?

-Yes.

-Excellent.

-So you can get to America and make your records.

-Excellent!

We're going to need £20 deposit.

I'm also going to need you to set up a standing order.

I've also printed you out a schedule.

You can see, as you pay, the interest goes down and down.

-Yeah, sure.

-OK. OK. So if you are happy with that,

if you wouldn't mind signing once you've done that.

And we will send the money today. Allow up to three working days.

-It could get there today, we can't guarantee it.

-Fantastic.

-Amazing. Thank you so much.

-I'm glad we could help you.

-Appreciate it.

-And see a smile on your face.

So that you can actually follow your dreams, you know, to sing.

It's my life. Yes, it's my life.

I'd like to hear you sing in the natural...

OK, let me think of a song which is appropriate for you.

# We forward in this generation

# Triumphantly

# So won't you help to sing

# These songs of freedom

# Cos all I ever have

# Redemption songs. #

That's all you're getting for now.

Yay!

That's one of my favourite songs of Bob Marley.

Played to the crowd, but there you go.

-You have done very well.

-Thank you.

-You have done very well.

-What a smile, though!

-Bless you.

-Nice to meet you. Have a good afternoon.

-You too.

-Thank you.

-Bye!

-Bye.

-Take care.

I loved his music. He sounded just like Bob Marley!

And I love reggae music.

So it makes me feel good that I can help him make that trip.

I didn't expect it to be so easy, to be fair. I thought it would be

at least a couple of days before I get some sort of, you know, answer.

In a month from now I will be in Philadelphia

meeting Marley's daughter.

Just really, really, really big.

Still to come: a woman seeks a loan after her best friend emigrates

to the other side of the world.

It was a bit of a shock at the time to find out that's what their plans

were. But, actually, now it's really positive.

A personal trainer dealing with the mistakes of her past.

When you are backed into a corner, and you have nowhere else to go,

like, what do you do?

And find out if Dan's trip to the USA is music to his ears.

It's just very inspiring. That realisation that dreams can happen.

Over the course of our lifetimes,

we enter into all kinds of financial contracts and agreements.

Rent, for starters. My phone bill. My gym membership.

Electric bill, gas bill. Water bill, yeah.

I have a phone contract, motorcycle finance.

I have one credit card and I only use it for buying special things and

gifts for my wife.

Yes, I have two credit cards of my own and I also have one

with my wife, a joint one.

Entering a contract on your own means you have sole responsibility.

But it's a different matter when you do things jointly.

Being in a relationship with someone is more than just all dreamy flowers

and having a lovely time. You need to think about the practical

managing your money part, too,

because that will make your day-to-day so much easier.

It is really important that, as a couple, you are on the same page,

and that means being completely open and honest about how good you are

with money, what you have spent in the past,

if you are struggling with debts,

what you're going to spend together in the future.

And if you are planning to mix your finances,

really looking at the best way to do that.

Somebody who knows all too well about the dangers of joint borrowing

is 33-year-old Kerry.

In her 20s, Kerry was in a relationship,

looking to the future and thinking about settling down.

I just thought that that time was the right time to get somewhere,

like, build a life.

I thought it would be a good idea to have a joint account

where we'd both contribute into this account and all the bills that are

generated, like gas, electric, mortgage, you know,

things like that, would all come out of this one account.

Because, to me, that seemed quite fair.

However, Kerry says things didn't work out as she had hoped.

Only one of us was contributing for a long period of time.

When you care about someone and they say,

"Oh, I can't put in this month. I'm getting the money from here and here,"

it's like, "OK, that's cool."

You know, you try and, you know, you support your partner. You know?

I was paying for everything - mortgage, bills, the council tax,

shopping.

Everything. Everything that you would pay for as a couple,

I was doing by myself.

I just had to stay in. I stayed at home a lot of the time,

pushed my friends away because I couldn't afford to go out with them.

You know, I couldn't do... I couldn't do anything.

I couldn't live my life cos I had no money to do anything.

Eventually, Kerry decided to move out.

I decided I had to leave

and I gathered as much of my things as I possibly could.

Which was literally a couple of bags of stuff.

And I left. I moved in with my sister.

Even though the relationship was over, Kerry found her financial ties

to her ex-partner were far harder to break.

As it was a joint account that they had both signed up to,

and had equal access, Kerry was jointly liable for any spending.

The monetary value, I think it got to over £15,000.

Emotionally and mentally, it just became so much and so overwhelming.

Debt collectors...

..hounding me all the time.

Every day. On my phone, at work.

Letters, constantly, all the time.

It's hard to tell people this is going on in your life.

It's hard to tell people.

It's like your whole world is falling apart.

Oh, God. I'll never forget that day

I had to come clean and tell everybody.

It was the worst day of my life.

Reaching out for help was the first step for Kerry to try and sort out the situation.

I went to Citizens Advice.

They were really helpful.

They told me

bankruptcy was an option.

I don't like talking about it because people judge you.

It was not an easy decision.

You know, it was my life.

But when you're... When you're backed into a corner

and you've got nowhere else to go, like, what do you do?

I ended up losing everything I had.

My home.

Everything I had.

Kerry was desperate to make a fresh start.

I had a little bit of money,

you know, in my account that I had saved. And I was like,

OK, first thing, I know I need to get myself a job.

It was just like, it was like completely starting from scratch.

But not only just trying to find a job,

it was like I needed to work on my self-confidence, my self-worth,

my self-esteem. Also my weight was important to me as well.

I was around about five stone heavier than I am today.

And sitting around about a size 18-20.

I joined a gym and I started to build myself back up again,

piece by piece.

It has been a painful process, but Kerry has turned her life around.

The debts are now gone and she's even launched her own business.

I have lost a substantial amount of weight

and from that I set up my company.

And, you know, I started small.

I mean, it's not something that happens overnight,

but my business is growing and I have grown with it, you know,

from strength to strength.

Declaring herself bankrupt was a difficult decision

but it has allowed her to start again.

Changing your life is one thing,

and then changing your body and then changing your mind-set is totally

something different as well. And I've done that.

I'm living proof that I've done that. And I just want to be that

anchor to other people that you can change your

life and there is always someone you can go to.

And I think that is why my business has become amazing,

because I genuinely know what it feels like.

I genuinely know what that's like.

Kerry learned the hard way. But if you are thinking about joining

your finances with a partner, it pays to do your homework first.

Before you open a joint account with your loved one,

the key thing is having an honest conversation about how you both

manage money and also about both of your credit histories.

Doing a simple credit check together is worthwhile because you will

understand if one of you has got a much better credit history than the

other, actually, it might be best to keep them separate for now,

because if they do then need to borrow,

it is likely they will be able to borrow for less.

Whereas by linking your finances together, then you will be

financially associated and lenders will look at you as well as them

when they start to apply to borrow.

Maybe you've just moved in with each other and you're starting to think

about joining finances,

maybe with a joint bank account to cover those joint expenses,

then tread carefully.

It's really important that you understand how you both will be

spending the money. Both of you might have slightly different

financial habits and therefore it's important to have that conversation.

No matter what your situation,

being fully informed could end up saving you time and money.

60, 80, 3.

Anyone in the local community can save through a credit union.

Have a nice day. Take it easy.

Whether they are experienced at managing their finances...

£10 into my savings account, please.

..or just starting out.

-And you've got £2 as well.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

I've come with my daughter, who is another member as well.

Thank you very much. Thanks.

She's one. She will be two in July.

She will be. Yay.

And right now she's got her savings in there.

It's not touched, you know. I can trust the credit union.

I've never had a problem with them, ever.

So why not get my daughter involved as well?

I'd say she gets more money than me!

-I just need you to fill in one of those forms there.

-Thank you.

Believe it or not, we've got nearly a quarter of a million pounds

in savings with our 1,500 juniors.

Oh, look at the baby!

These responsible lenders try to help people who struggle to borrow

through traditional roots.

This credit union has been going for 25 years, since 1992.

We have about 12,000 active members.

We have £5 million worth of assets in savings in this credit union.

They have well over £4 million of those assets and savings by saving a

small amount of money. That has created a pool of money which we can

then lend to other people.

What's your membership number, please?

Because they look into all aspects of an applicant's history

and situation, a poor credit rating, low income or being on benefits

doesn't automatically mean they can't borrow.

110. OK?

-All right?

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

One such member hoping to get some help from her local credit union

in Lewisham, South London, is Karen.

I'm at the credit union today to get a top-up loan to do some home

improvements, just some painting,

some carpets for my daughter's and my son's bedroom.

I'm going to go for about 500.

Hi, can I help you?

OK, no worries. I'll do that for you.

Karen already has a loan with the credit union and she's applying

to increase it to fund her home improvements.

-Hello.

-Hello! I'm applying to get a top-up on my loan.

-Right, what are you wanting, an instant top-up?

-If I can, yes.

-VOICEOVER:

-I've had a few loans before and I've been a member

for about six years. I like it. It helps you out when you're...

When you need a bit more money and you haven't got it,

it helps you out and you can also save at the same time.

On a personal loan, I can do a maximum of 500.

-Yup.

-OK?

-That's fine, yeah.

-OK, sweetheart.

Do you have your proofs of address?

-Yup, here.

-Right, they're no more than three months old, no?

-No.

-Perfect.

-I've also got my account card as well.

No, that's perfect. No, that's perfect. These two will be fine.

Right, thank you.

And they don't charge too much interest as well

for paying them back. Like, if you was to go to, like, a normal bank,

they would probably pay you, like, more interest to pay them back.

So that's why I come here.

Although Karen already passed the lending checks and requirements for

her initial loan, the team now need to make sure she'll be able

to afford the repayments on the top-up, too.

If Karen doesn't pass the checks,

she will be going home without the money.

-Hi, can I help you?

-I've come for...

-You've come for a top-up loan?

-Yup.

-OK. Let's have a look.

It's fine for 500.

-OK.

-OK. So we just need to do an agreement.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-And the payments will stay exactly the same, yeah?

-Yeah.

-£19 a week. OK.

So, it's a top-up of 500.

Yes? Is it going to go into your Engage card this afternoon?

-It is, yes.

-It is. OK.

The interest stays the same at 2% per month and you can pay it early

if you want to and if you have got any problems,

-you need to keep in touch. Yeah?

-Yeah, will do.

-OK.

You've had plenty of loans before.

One you, and one for me, yeah?

-Yeah, OK. Thank you.

-No problem.

I've got it. It means I can do what I want to do for the kids.

There's an added benefit for Karen of borrowing here, too.

It's really good if you are ever short of money and if you need to

get something and you can just come here and they help you out.

I am saving with them as well, so I can actually go into my savings if

I need to. Because what you do is, if you get a loan and you pay it back,

you put some money into an account,

but you can't touch it until your loan is actually paid up.

So I'm kind of saving and borrowing at the same time.

People borrow from credit unions

and other responsible lenders for all manner of things.

I'm here at the credit union to get a loan to have a nice holiday for me

and my three boys and my husband.

I'm here to get a top-up loan to get a new tumble dryer.

I want to do a bit more with my flat because I'm just trying to do it up.

Basically, my car has been off the road for a little while and I need

a loan to kind of fix it up a bit.

Credit unions encourage people to borrow responsibly,

as well as building up savings for when things don't go to plan.

People save for different reasons, for holidays or finer things.

Can I help you?

Knowing that you can access credit when you need a helping hand

can help open the door to all sorts of exciting possibilities.

-Hiya!

-Hello! Lovely to see you.

-Come in, come in.

-Thank you.

-Right, I'm just about to order a takeaway.

-Awesome!

For 40-year-old Valerie from Milton Keynes,

a £1,000 loan helped reunite a group of school friends.

That is a great picture. That really brings it back to me.

Friendship is really important to me and being able to stay in touch with

my childhood friends throughout

all these years has really made a difference to my life.

Do you remember this, when we had our fortunes taken?

-What did we have to do?

-Ah!

Valerie and Nicky, along with Jaspal and Emma,

have been best mates since school.

-We met 27 years ago.

-So we were 13.

-OK.

-Yeah.

-And we met in maths?

Yeah, we were in the same set for maths.

And, yeah, we just bonded over a love of music,

playing musical instruments and a great sense of humour.

Having a really strong group of friends at the age of 13

I think is one of the times you most need one.

And it was fantastic. You know, people were so funny.

We had so much in common. We laughed all the time.

But when Emma decided to emigrate to New Zealand, and Jaspal to Canada,

all the friends' lives changed.

It was a bit of a shock at the time to find out that's what their plans

were, but actually now it's really positive because it means that,

you know, different members of the friendship group,

we can go and visit them.

The friends kept up with each other on Skype.

-Hello!

-Hello!

Bonjour.

-Kia ora.

-That's right, that's what I meant to say.

But as it's not quite the same as meeting face-to-face,

they planned a reunion in New Zealand.

I decided to go and visit Emma because I wanted to see how she was

getting on in her new life and also I really wanted to visit exotic

places and I'd never really had the chance.

We always wanted an excuse, didn't we, to get to New Zealand?

-And I think Emma provided us with that.

-And we both really like

travelling, but we have never travelled together.

-No.

-So that was really fun, actually.

-Yeah.

Valerie already had some savings to put towards her reunion trip,

as she had been a member of her local credit union since 2012.

My mum made me join up with a credit union because she used to volunteer

with them, and she had volunteered with them over several years.

And I just saved £20 a month until I had 500 quid.

I hardly noticed the money going out of the account,

and it felt really good to have that pot of money building up slowly

and sitting there.

£500 wasn't going to get her to the other side of the world,

so Valerie applied to her credit union in Milton Keynes

for a £1,000 loan.

Her adviser was Graham Tomlin.

Many of our members use their credit union savings and loans

to go abroad, to take holidays abroad,

to visit friends and family and to go for other emergencies abroad.

And it's a great way to just keep up with people they might not have seen

for some time. So people see that as an essential, not just a luxury.

With her finances sorted, Valerie travelled with Nicky

on their three-week New Zealand adventure.

Valerie has since paid back her loan

and is now planning another long-distance friendship reunion.

Since that New Zealand trip, I've continued to save.

And we have another project that we might go out to Canada and see the

other friend who emigrated and started a family.

But who knows?

Earlier, we met singer-songwriter Dan, who took a credit union loan

to fly to the States in the hope of getting a recording contract.

My trip to Philadelphia was spellbinding, actually.

# Raindrops falling

# Into the ocean... #

Unfortunately, Dan didn't get his contract.

But his trip to Philadelphia was life-changing all the same.

The family and friends couldn't have been any more nicer to me,

they were so hospitable.

Just telling me stories about Marley and, you know, the family

and just getting to know that side of the Marleys,

that stuff that I've read about, heard about.

I can proudly say that Makeda Marley

is my friend and she's just lifted my spirits.

This picture is a picture of me and the lady herself, Makeda Marley.

This one is me and Makeda again.

This is one of my favourites, actually.

This really blows my mind.

This is one of my favourites.

Just looking at it, I'm transported back there,

just outside of One Love Park.

Delaware.

Isn't that a beautiful thing?

Without the loan from the credit union,

this would never have happened. I'm very grateful that the credit union

actually gave me the loan so I could get out there.

Because it's priceless. The experience, spiritually,

mentally, emotionally, it is second to none, actually.

What a life-changing experience I had. Meeting Bob Marley's daughter

made me realise even more so that what love

I have for her father and how much he has inspired me.

All that inspiration is working its way into Dan's new songs.

# Makeda

# And her brethren... #

The music, since I have come back, has just transformed.

I gained lifelong experience there

that will make me smile for the rest of my life.

That realisation that dreams can happen,

it's just very inspiring,

that, just maybe,

I'm on the right path and just maybe things might start to shape up

musically for me. Which I feel that they are.

Since our filming, Valerie has been planning a trip to Canada.

And Vicky's dog walking business is fully booked and she's recently

taken out another credit union loan

for new training equipment for the dogs.