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Documentary series about credit unions and responsible lenders across the country, telling the stories of people whose lives have been transformed by an ethical loan.
2018
The credit union helps serve up a taste of Cameroon and a loan helps a truck driver to get back on track.
A community boathouse offers new hope to an injured teenager, and a beer-loving mechanic opens his own pub.
A garden centre is hoping for a cash injection to help it branch out.
A loan helps a single mum realise her childhood dream of opening a bespoke bridal boutique.
An ethical loan inspires children to fight the plague of plastic pollution and a couple open a community gym with a difference.
A woman sets up a charity for unwanted pets and a chocolate factory offers new hope to disadvantaged youngsters.
A loan helps a silversmith get his work in the spotlight, and a woman needs cash to get her sausages onto the high street.
Decades of spending leaves one family drowning in debt, and an ethical loan helps a couple to feed a city.
New parents need help for their twins, and an ethical lender helps a couple follow their dream of running their own smokery.
A loan helps a woman bring a taste of her Gambian home to Yorkshire and a DJ granny hits the decks thanks to her credit union.
2019
Hard-working Hertfordshire florist and mum of three Collette worries that her poor credit history could prune her plans to open a new shop. Keen to secure a prime position in a shopping centre so she can grow her floristry business, she turns to an ethical lender for £5,000. In Yorkshire, former soldier Nick goes it alone as a tour guide. Using his own savings and a £5,000 loan, he has been able to swap his desk for the dales as his tours have become a roaring success. At the Bristol credit union, Marilyn needs £350 to buy a new cooker, and, faced with a recession and no employment, a pair of graduates decide to create their own jobs by setting up a fashion workshop in Scotland with the help of £12,000.
In London, a community land trust is trying to combat the housing crisis. Set up and run by ordinary people who fix house prices in relation to what people actually earn, it’s trying to prevent locals from being priced out of the neighbourhoods they call home. An ethical loan is the icing on the cake for 32-year-old Pia, who runs an award-winning artisan cake business in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Pia began selling her cakes at markets and fairs but needed £5,000 to get her own vehicle for the business. The Fredericks Foundation lent her the money, and the bakery has continued to rise. And Newport credit union in south Wales has a unique member, Ernie the labrador. Owner Maureen has been saving for Ernie since he got sick and was saddled with expensive vet bills. She now saves whatever she can in case he falls ill again.
In the heart of Newquay in Cornwall a green oasis has been built for the community thanks to crowdfunding. It’s the brainchild of Luke, an ecologist with a dream of turning seven acres of grassland into a green hub for his hometown, growing food to feed people's minds as much as their tummies. Teenage entrepreneur Erika has turned a life-changing diagnosis into a hugely successful business. After receiving intensive physiotherapy in Spain for a spinal deformation known as scoliosis, she decided to start a business offering the non-invasive treatment here in the UK. At 19 she asked for a £50,000 loan and was so successful she was able to pay it back in nine months. At the Lewisham Plus Bromley credit union in south London we meet William, who has come to see about a loan. William fell into difficulties when he lost his job in catering and ended up sleeping rough on the streets for eight months. Now he has a new home and he’d like a loan of £500 to kit it out with all the basics.
A couple from Cornwall swap the rat race for the open road. Jess and Ben hire out restored vintage camper vans thanks to a £5,000 ethical loan that helped turn their dream of running a business into a glorious glamping reality. A young businessman appeals to the internet and gets the funding he needs to set up a ‘green’ business. 28-year-old Stephen has a passion for plants and needed £1250 in crowdfunding to help him branch out in a new direction. And a mum starts the savings habit early to give her children a lesson in finance. Adenike and her children’s savings join the £890 million pounds currently deposited with UK credit unions, which they can loan to others at a much lower interest rate.
James wants a £5,000 loan to pay for his wedding. The only thing he hasn’t done is ask his girlfriend to marry him! But as James has missed payments on a previous loan, will the Cambrian Credit Union say yes to his request? Karen and her father go into business together combining the craft of glassblowing and Scotland’s famous tipple, creating whisky gifts. A £16,000 ethical loan helps a transgender entrepreneur and her friend take control of their own destiny after struggling with employment. They have set up a takeaway with a Portuguese twist in Preston, Lancashire. Patricia believes she faced a lot of stigma when looking for work because of being transgender, and Adele has chronic fatigue syndrome, often making it very difficult to work normal hours. Mel from Bolton went on a spending binge that cost £40,000. Unable to pay her mortgage, Mel lost her home, but with help from a Christian group she has now paid off her debts and gives advice to others in a similar situation.
An ethical loan helps a mum set up the UK’s largest indoor urban skate park in a bid to create a safe place for young people to hang out. Adrenalin Alley in Corby, Northamptonshire, is dedicated to her son John, who was violently attacked in the street, and she has been able to secure a £900,000 loan to secure the park's future. A Yorkshire village comes together to fight off the threat of developers. The people of Marsden are determined to keep the heart of their village alive, and apply for a loan to preserve a historic building for future generations. And a credit union tunes into a musician who needed money to buy a banjo. The funds enabled 70-year-old Billy to go on tour with his band, the Dublin Rogues
A Dartington dairy farmer decides to diversify into goat yoga in a bid to keep his farm alive. He bucks the local trend and applies for a loan to buy equipment to produce his own goat milk and ice cream, and when the goats aren’t being milked, they’re used in a yoga class. In south Wales, a painter gets back to work thanks to an ethical loan. He lost his business when he was diagnosed with cancer, but with a clean bill of health he’s back out with his brushes, taking his decorating business to new heights. Emma turns the aftermath of the London riots into a community venture. She's using a loan to bring local people together, by setting up an award-winning community directory. And in Liverpool, Enterprise Credit Union are on hand to help their members and keep high-interest pay day loans away from its community. And time's running out for a mum who needs an emergency loan to keep a roof over her head. Will the credit union be able to help her and keep her away from loan sharks?
In Manchester, super juicer Paula and her partner John are expanding their popular health drinks business. They used their own funds to set up a juice shop, employing local people, but they're already too squeezed and need a loan to help them upscale operations. An ethical loan helps a group of motivational speakers in London inspire the corporate world to show their human side. The Lions Club is designed to help firms recognise diversity and openly discuss issues including race, disability and mental health. And out in the countryside of north west England, we meet Karen who gave up a corporate job to get into photography. Her environmental mission is to show people the beauty of nature on their doorstep – in the hope they will take a greater interest in preserving their local landscape.
In Cambridge, a £50,000 ethical loan helps turn a kitchen experiment into a buzzing enterprise. Mum-of-two Kath is using natural beeswax to produce an environmentally friendly alternative to cling film and plastic wrapping. A start-up loan in North Yorkshire has helped a man hatch a dream. Bird of prey expert Jack runs a mobile falconry business so people can get up close and personal to his collection of raptors. Alison faces the consequences of an unpaid bill as the bailiffs arrive to take away her car. A credit union is her only hope. And David needs a £600 loan to help spruce up his sister's room ready for her homecoming.
A surfer taps into the internet to crowdfund a project inspiring young girls, and an ethical loan helps rebuild lives blighted by addiction.
2017
In this episode it is all about the dough when a baker gets a loan to set up his own specialist pie shop. Plus how a single mum proved the high street banks wrong by creating a successful language school after starting at her kitchen table, and one woman's journey from being a successful entrepreneur to having £10 to her name... and back again.
The programme meets dad-of-five Roger, who is holding down two jobs as he gets a loan allowing him to finish and launch his own business - a unique ice cream van. An NHS worker reveals how she struggled with crippling credit card debts. And, following her recuperation after an accident, a woman launches her mermaid swimming school in Bournemouth with the help of a spirited loans advisor.
Jade is looking for £1,500 to redecorate her daughter's bedroom, while Miriam needs £1,000 for an educational trip to Germany. A former bus driver explains how an addiction to credit drove her to bankruptcy. In Manchester, an ethical loan allows food fan Mark to launch his BBQ business in an authentic American school bus, and in Stroud a £500 loan means Fergus's dream of becoming a therapist comes true.
Members of London Mutual Credit Union try to get loans for everything from home improvements to a daughter's birthday party. The programme meets the young Muslim woman whose loan allowed her to turn a passion for modest fashion into a viable business. And there is the dramatic tale of a former army major who lost everything when he built up huge debts with his gambling addiction.
The programme meets the woman who waited over 20 years before a small loan allowed her to realise her dream of opening her own sewing business, and a grandmother keeps her son's name alive by setting up a cafe in his memory with the help of an ethical loan. There is also the horror story of a young man's experience of dealing with loan sharks, and we're at London Capital Credit Union to find out if they will approve a loan for some much-needed garden maintenance.
Loans help couple Katerina and Colin set up a health food shop in rural Wales, and Syrian refugee Razan take her own line of Halloumi cheese out of the family kitchen and into the big time. We meet a mum who ended up homeless after struggling with redundancy and spiralling debts, and we also follow members of the Lewisham and Bromley credit union, including 78-year-old salsa dancer Leroy, who needs £400 for some furniture for his new flat.
This episode follows Laura as she tries to get a loan to set up her own grilled cheese sandwich bar. We also meet Rebirtha, a retired teacher who, following a stroke, was turned down for a loan to insulate her house by the people she had banked with for 15 years, before being saved by a credit union. A loan helps a young woman retrain as a nail technician, and the programme hears from a credit union employee with first-hand experience of being deep in debt.
We meet a couple whose ethical loan has allowed them to create a thriving upcycling furniture business. We also follow members of London Mutual Credit Union, including community worker Jacqui, who needs a loan to pay for new carpet, and nursery teacher Hayley, who wants to borrow for a family holiday.
A loan helps a Cornish couple to transform access for blind people by funding their unique business idea - a device that describes the layout of a room, enabling the visually impaired to find their way around. The programme also meets a woman with a passion for Nigerian food who set up her own catering business following the death of her mum, and we hear how a handyman from Middlesbrough turned to doorstep loans to feed his growing family.
Lanarkshire Credit Union in Glasgow helps animal lover Vikki set up her own dog-walking business, a loan from Swan Credit Union in Milton Keynes reunites three long-distance friends, and the programme follows a musician as he applies for a loan to pay for a ticket to America, where he is hoping to get a record contract with the Bob Marley family label.
This episode meets Marion, a nurse who changed career to launch a dog spa after seeing how it helped her own pet. Nine months on, her loans advisor Sarah comes to see if the money has been well spent. A credit union loan helps a father who needs a car to take his young sons to school, and there is the story of how misusing payday loans plunged a young man into debt.
The programme is at London Capital Credit Union to follow Sheila's application for £3,000 that she needs to buy a car so she can get back into employment, and it meets council worker Alan, who is looking for a loan to pay for his summer holiday. Plus some inspirational success stories, including a mum of six who went from benefits to bankrupt to becoming a successful florist, and Leicester's very own Willy Wonka, who went from teaching himself the tricks of the trade from the internet to making chocolate for the Queen, with the help of a £6,000 loan.
The programme meets two credit union volunteers with very different stories to tell - cancer survivor Cate on how a loan helped her to start retraining as a nurse and a cautionary tale from 57-year-old Sue, who paid the price for sticking her head in the sand. And a loan helps a young pet fanatic turn his love of lizards into an award-winning business.
Featuring a look at how a loan takes an idea off the ground when two Somerset brothers borrow to start a business creating furniture made from aviation parts. The programme meets Marina, who since arriving in the UK at 17 knowing very little English, has transformed her life using a credit union loan for education. Plus how Brian found himself deep in debt after his mother died when he was just 18.
Featuring a woman who became a successful photographer and a couple in Cornwall as they open their sweet shop and tearoom. And the programme is back at London Capital Credit Union, where 47-year-old Alev is looking for a loan so she can pay for the travel to a family funeral overseas.
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