Provident Personal Credit 'Good Neighbour' programme reaches milestone

Provident Personal Credit's 'Good Neighbour' programme reached a milestone at the end of 2011, with the company having provided support to over 500 organisations over the past three years, highlighting their commitment to corporate responsibility.

In addition, 'Good Neighbour' has supported over 30 three year projects, with more than 20,000 people benefitting from project and volunteering support.

Peter Crook, CEO at Provident Financial, said: "When asked, as I often am, about how we manage our Corporate Responsibility programme, I say it's part of our DNA. It's a fundamental part of our business strategy and plays a key role in our long-term success."

Established in 2009, Good Neighbour is Provident Financial’s flagship community programme. It helps fulfil Provident's ambition to be the UK's leading community-based lender by creating opportunities for people to work side by side with its community partners. 'Good Neighbour' has three component strands:
- Supporting local projects: working in partnership with local community organisations, the 'Good Neighbour' programme delivers projects which are tailored to meet the needs of local residents. Most projects run over a three-year period, with opportunities available to deliver smaller, one-off projects too.
- Employee volunteering: 'Good Neighbour' supports employees participating in company-led volunteering projects, including one-to-one mentoring projects, the Provident Reading Scheme and team challenges.
- Employee matched giving: Provident wants to help its employees to support the causes they care about the most. Employees taking part in fundraising activities or volunteering in their local communities can apply for matched giving and volunteering grants to make their contribution go even further. Over 1,750 employees have been involved so far and community partners have reported more people are now accessing their services.

Each community partner is selected carefully to ensure that every project is delivered to a high standard and provides real benefits for the community. Provident wants to work with a wide range of organisations, including youth clubs, community groups and schools, so that it can reach people of all ages, from toddlers to pensioners, and address their specific needs.

About Provident Personal Credit:
Provident Personal Credit is a market leading financial services company operating in the non-standard loans market. It specialises in offering cash loans of small amounts, typically from £50 - £500 over terms from 14 weeks up to 106 weeks. Its short term loans are unsecured and all of the costs are included up front which means that customers will never be charged for a missed or late payment. When assessing loan applications, Provident Personal Credit look at the applicants ability to repay now rather than their payment history.

This means that people could still be accepted for a loan even if they think they may have bad credit. Repayments are collected by agents who visit their customers' homes on a weekly basis. The company has a good reputation with 95% of their customers saying that they are satisfied with their service.

What's more, it is a great alternative to payday loans with small and manageable weekly repayments.

Provident Personal Credit Ltd is a part of the Provident Financial Group. It is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading.

PR Contact:
Emma Noble
PR Executive
Provident Financial
1 Godwin Street
Bradford
BD1 2SU  
01274 351135
www.providentpersonalcredit.com