Encompass Credit Union

For decades Encompass Credit Union have provided quality financial services to the whole community, including a highly competitive, award-winning credit card, affordable loan services and many other financial products. Encompass' relationship with Barnardos has followed the same principle of innovation and community support.

Every family will need extra funds from time to time, either to purchase that urgently needed new washing machine, as a bond payment for an appartment or for a thousand pressing reasons. However, families disadvantaged by poverty find qualifying for any kind of finance or loan hugely challenging. In 2002 Encompass developed the Boomerang Grant specifically for Barnardos families in need.

The Boomerang Grant, the first of its kind in Australia, was developed when it was observed that those most needing financial assistance were least likely to qualify for a personal loan. Limited income could often mean such applications were declined.

The Boomerang Grant, an initiative of Barnardos Australia and Encompass Credit Union, provides people in genuine need with funds that may be used for rental bonds, essential car repairs or to purchase essential household or health-care items such as medical equipment, vacuum cleaners and refrigerators. These funds are then repaid in interest free instalments.

The program, currently being offered to clients of Barnardos Penrith Centre, helps families by giving them access to financial credit which would normally be denied them. "The aim of the scheme is to lend to small amounts to as many people as possible," stated Bill Petch, Barnardos’ Marketing Manager. "To the economically disadvantaged, even the smallest purchase which can greatly improve life may appear to be out of reach."

An example of the potential of the Boomerang Grant to assist families in need is the case of a young mother of three children under six years of age. Her youngest child developed asthma as a baby, and in her carpeted housing department accommodation, dust could prove to be a trigger of a dangerous, even fatal, asthma attack. Through the Boomerang Grant she was able to buy an asthma nebuliser and a new vacuum cleaner which has made life immeasurably easier for her and her young children.