An exciting new initiative, geared towards the agricultural community is brought to you by Athlone Credit Union at their offices in Monksland and Irishtown.
The Cultivate farm loans offered by Athlone Credit Union are based on a proven scheme which was developed in Galway in 2017 and now has twenty-six credit unions now offering Cultivate loans.
The Cultivate scheme offers loans up to €50,000 for a variety of farming purposes based on information gathered from farmers and key stakeholders in the agri sector. The term of the loan can be up to seven years at an interest rate is 6.55 percent (APR 6.75 percent ) with repayment schedules designed to suit farmers cash flow.
CEO of Athlone Credit Union Michael Evans says the initiative is offering a personal service to farmers “who want to deal with people who have a knowledge of agriculture and understand farming. Credit Union farm loan officers have completed in-dept training with Teagasc in the area of Farm Finance.”
To date over €40M in loans have been issued to farmers through the Cultivate scheme to support everything from working capital, cash flow, farm development, livestock purchase, farm machinery purchase, rural enterprise funding, and start up farm finance.
Commenting on the new offering, Michael Evans, CEO of Athlone Credit Union, noted that the initiative was welcome news to the agricultural sector within the local community.
“This will come as welcome news to farmers, farming organisations and agri businesses in our area.
“The news of the wind down of Ulster Bank and the closure of many Bank of Ireland rural branches has caused widespread concern in the agri community.
“We know that farming is seen as a very important sector in the Midlands region and in particular with members in our Irishtown and Monksland offices.
“We have a large farming community in our area and in addition to generating income inside the farm gate, farming is also very much the lifeblood of the rural community where every Euro earned by farmers has a multiplier effect in the rural economy,” Mr Evans asserted.
Athlone Credit Union would like to thank to Billy Shaw and his team from WR Shaw for supplying one of their New Holland tractors for their launch day.
Information on Cultivate farm loans can be received by contacting Athlone Credit Union, who have branches in Monksland and Irishtown.
For further information, please call 090-6472497 or email [email protected].
