Home Owners’ Co-operative Credit Society

There are several contenders for “first credit union” in Australia. We looked at the Co-operative Credit Bank of Victoria and Universal Credit Union recently and Home Owners’ Co-operative Credit Society is another contender. It comes down to how “credit union” is defined. Today we would call them all customer owned banks.

The impetus for credit unions as we know them dates to the passage of the NSW Small Loans Facilities Act in 1941. This was an Act to authorise the formation of small loan societies under the Co-operation Act.

The first ‘registered’ credit union under the 1941 Act – the Home Owners’ Co-operative Credit Society Limited – was established in May 1945.

This credit society was sponsored by a building society – the Home Building Co-operative Society, which was a group of terminating building societies based in Sydney. The co-operative credit society was formed so that members could obtain low interest, unsecured loans for purchasing furniture and other household expenses.

The management of the Home Owners’ Co-operative Credit Society was the same as the building society. The ‘bond of association’ was the common membership of the building society.

It changed its name to Home Owners Credit Union in 1963 and by 29 January 1982 its name had been removed from the register.