About Us

Mission Statement

Our mission is to fulfil the financial needs of our Members/owners by providing high quality prod-ucts and excellent services based on mutual trust and integrity, and the values that guide the work and service of Sheephaven Credit Union.

The Mission of Sheephaven Credit Union is to promote the financial well-being of its members. To achieve this purpose, Sheephaven Credit Union is committed to providing a broad range of innovative financial products supported by the excellent service of a dedicated staff. These programs will be administered in accordance with sound management practices to maintain the financial strength of Sheephaven Credit union. The Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Sheephaven Credit Union hereby affirm that the efforts of the Credit Union will be consistently and professionally dedicated to the accomplishment of this mission.

From Early Beginnings

Sheephaven Credit Union Limited was set-up as a study group in November 1991. The original study group of 27 people met for training one night per week for several months before we opened to the public on the 30th July 1992.

Our original common bond covered the areas of Cranford, Carrigart, Downings and Glen where we had the use of Carrigart National School, Downings National School , Cranford National School and Devlinreagh National School as collection centres. These centres opened on a Friday Evening from 7.30 to 9pm with extended hours at Carrigart National School where we opened on a Saturday morning from 10am to 12.30pm.

In November 1995 we rented a premised at Downings from Udaras na Gaeltachta which enabled us to keep all our records in one centre and extend our opening hours to members.

Also in 1995 we purchased a site at Carrigart on which we constructed a new purpose built office which was opened in January 1997. This office is now open 6 days a week from Monday to Saturday.

In November 1996 we were approached by a group of people from the Creeslough area enquiring if they could join our Credit Union. After several meetings with various interested groups, we decided to extend our common bond to cover the areas of Creeslough and Dunfanaghy.

For many years we had the use of a room in the Day Centre at Creeslough and also the use of the Holy Cross School at Dunfanaghy. Some years later we decided to extend our opening hours in Dunfanaghy and rented a room in the Ozanam Centre where we continued business until we opened our purpose built office at Creeslough in May 2006. This office is now open 6 days a week from Monday to Saturday.

The Credit Union Story

The modern Credit Union movement traces its origins to Germany and to Friedrich Willhelm Raiffeisen, the Mayor of a small town in southern Germany, who in 1849 formed societies, which later evolved in to Credit Unions. The purposes of these Credit Unions were to enable people to help themselves in relieving debt and poverty.

A Credit Union is a democratic, financial co-operative owned and controlled by its own members. Each Credit Union is run only to benefit its members, all of whom have something in common - the common bond.

The Credit Union movement was introduced into Ireland in 1958 by Nora Herilhy with the support of a number of other dedicated pioneers.

Since then, the Credit Union philosophy of mutual self-help has proved very popular, and there are just under 500 Credit Unions affiliated to the Irish league of Credit Unions throughout the country.

In Ireland nearly 3 million members have recognized the value of credit unions, and have savings approaching several billion euros with their credit unions. There are thousands employed in the sector and many more thou-sands are volunteers involved in the movement.

We Are Looking For Volunteers!

Sheephaven Credit Union is built upon the efforts of its volunteers who give freely of their time and skills to their credit union in the spirit of co-operation. An individual can develop both personally and professionally by volunteering.