Caroni credit union moves for broader base

This credit union conducted business on the Caroni compound for many years and it owed its growth and development to the fortunes of the sugar industry. Since 2003, however, the Caroni BC transferred its office to Couva and a function was held to change its name to the Central Community Credit Union on Friday.

The new entity plans to offer the organisation a wider base to conduct business after two years of pain and agony at the loss of thousands of members, whose monthly fees were deducted from the company’s payroll.

The union’s current president, Desmond Baxter, told the gathering on Friday that Caroni BC Credit Union was established 49 years ago, and he named some of the pioneers of the establishment. Among them were S Roopchand, Sam Persad, Ramnarine Binda, RR Wiltshire, Isaac Beepath, Krishna Ragoo, Surujnarine Maharaj, Deokie Chirkootsingh, Frank des Vignes, and Errol Scott.

The Caroni BC Credit Union was a recipient of funds from the Revenue Stabilisation Fund and it also received an award for excellence in 2003 from the Credit Union League.

He said in 2003, when Caroni (1975) Ltd faced closure, “it was a tremendous blow to our society and our members were unprepared for such an eventuality and most of them were left in very comprising financial situations.”

He said, “Members became confused as to how to treat with this situation and some of them paid off their loans with VSEP, while some transferred their shares to loans. Some stopped paying and left the credit union.”

Some also resigned and others became dormant and “this affected the buoyancy of the economy of our credit union,” Baxter said.

He said, “We have faced up to the challenges because we have a commitment and a responsibility to the community as a whole.”

He said, “We have a loyal core of members that we must service and this has been so before the closure of Caroni.” He noted that they took a decision to expand and to include all residents of Trinidad and Tobago, and “to initiate strategies in order to improve our customer service as well as efficiency.”

He said the “new office was well positioned to enhance customer service and regain the confidence of members and get rid of the taboo that has taunted us — that Caroni was a loser.”

The new name of Central Community Credit Union Co-operative Society was well thought of, and “I wish to thank the Co-operative Credit Union League for its support in helping us to market ourselves in such a way as to enable us to continue to make a positive thrust in the credit union movement of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Daphne Joseph, manager of the Co-operative Credit Union League, delivered an address sent by president Gary Cross, who missed the function to attend a funeral service. He shared in the milestone of the Caroni Brechin Castle Credit Union, in the “change of name to the Central Community Credit Union, and I hope that furtrher success would come your way as you continue to make inroads in the area where you operate.”

“I hope that you are now better prepared for your new journey through embracing the community and broadening the bond of membership,” Cross added.

He said, “You have an excellent opportunity to enter the byways and highways in the Central community, and to preach the gospel and win souls for the credit union system and, most importantly, to put you back on track.”

Cross warned the credit union “to guard against the trap of uncontrollable delinquency, if you wish to succeed.”