BOB Jeffery believed in taking risks as a bank manager.

He adopted a personal approach - lending money to potential borrowers even if, at first sight, they weren't safe bets.

"Some years ago I had some dealings with new customers who were up to their eyes in debt with loan sharks in Shaw Heath," he said.

"I took a risk and the risk was justified in so far as the fellow paid it off to us."

The interest the father-of-three was being charged was plunging him further in debt.

But the bank's faith in his ability to pay was enough to drive away the loan sharks.

During his years as manager of The Midland Bank, Mr Jeffery heard horror stories of loan sharks demanding child allowance books and waiting outside post offices on the day the victims collected their benefit.

He said the impersonal way that banks now lent money had left some of the most needy people out in the cold.

And those who didn't have a phone or had moved house too often, often didn't score highly on the application form.

Instead, Mr Jeffery believes in the old-fashioned notion of getting to know your customers first - and having faith.

"Before you look at anything else if their manner is not right you don't go any further," he said.

"And you only know that by knowing your customers - not by being 10 miles distant."

His inside view of personal banking has now led him to research credit unions.

Circumstances mean he can no longer start the ball rolling, but he thinks someone else should give it a try in Knutsford.

"Looking into the regulations which relate to credit unions, you can have neighbourhood, union and firms," he said.

"It's something that's going to grow and grow."

A credit union, he said, was nothing more complicated than a bank run by volunteers. It's not looking for a large profit after a day of transactions and it will lend to those normally excluded from borrowing money - often people driven by debt or poverty into the hands of the loan sharks.

Clr Bill Davies, in his time as a councillor representing Knutsford's poorer households, had no direct experience of the moneylenders either - but often it's a secret that rarely goes beyond a family's front door.

"I kept coming across people with severe financial difficulties," he said.

"And I suspect, but I don't know, that they were in the hands of some pretty dubious people."

Debt is not always the result of reckless spending or sloppy management of the household purse.

Often it's events beyond people's control which land people in financial difficulties.

Clr Davies recalled an elderly resident, who was left with bills of almost £2,000 by a family member who was running a business from her home.

But both Clr Davies and Mr Jeffrey agree that people can manage their money if they are given the chance - and credit unions can help.

"The reason people are poor is because they don't have enough money," said Clr Davies.

"I have worked over the years with people struggling valiantly to keep their heads above water."

It is more sensible, said Clr Davies, to own up to debts than to turn to the loan sharks.

"Always go to court," he said. "There you meet magistrates who are more often than not sympathetic.

"They have the powers to write off debts and they can establish a method of repayment that's well within your capabilities."

But credit unions can prevent people getting into a tight spot in the first place.

"Credit unions have some sensible local people who you can consult and they can help you sort out your finances."

Run by trustees, usually local community figures, and closely monitored by national organisations, a credit union gives loans - not overdrafts - with easy repayments and low interest rates.

It's not essential for a borrower to put money in first, but it can be an easy way to begin to save for people who don't usually have that luxury.

"This form of banking is now very widespread in industry and the community and it has its application here," said Mr Jeffery.

"Perhaps in Shaw Heath and Longridge if there was someone to take it on and pick it up."

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