Cavan Credit Union announce plans to further increase farmer lending
Speaking to Breffni O’Brien of Agriland Cavan Credit Union announced plans to further increase its financial support to farmers and to assist family farms in further developing and improving their farm enterprises. The announcement comes ahead of National Cultivate Week which gets under way on Monday, March 27.
Cultivate is a loan scheme available to farmers from Cavan Credit Union. The loan option offers farmers up to €50,000 at a variable interest rate of 6.55% which can be repaid within a seven-year period.
Noelle Fitzpatrick is the Loans and Business Development Manager at Cavan Credit Union. She is in charge of the Cultivate loan book with the help of her colleague, Loans Officer, Jennifer Conaty, both of who are from farming backgrounds. Therese Conway is the CEO and encourages farmers who are seeking finance to contact the team at Cavan Credit Union to find out more about how their loan options can be of benefit to farmers.
Speaking to Breffni Noelle said: “We offer short to medium term loan opportunities built specifically around the growing needs of our farming members. Cavan Credit Union came on board with the Cultivate loan scheme in October 2021, about 18 months ago. Since then, we have loaned €1.7million to farmers across the region and we are delighted to announce we are seeking to further expand this offering.”
Noelle explained, “The loan is open to all farmers and we allow a range of different repayment options. The maximum loan amount is €50,000 over a 7-year term. So far, we have seen a large number of suckler, beef, sheep and dairy farmers come to us looking for loans to invest in farm infrastructure, land improvements and to purchase new machinery. We are seeing a lot of interest from farmers transitioning to organics as well.”
Noelle told Breffni “A lot of farmers who have been approved for the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) funding are coming to us to borrow the balance of the funds required for their projects. Approval is quick and easy and with the farmers consent, we can contact their accountant to get the necessary documentation and once all documentation has been received, confirmation of the loan can be given within 24 hours.”
Concluding the interview, Therese, CEO of Cavan Credit Union said: “We see our role in offering Cultivate loans to farmers as a long-term venture. We want to develop our relationship with the farming community in the local area and make access to borrowing as straight-forward and hassle-free as possible. Noelle ended the interview by staying “Farmers who wish to find out more can e-mail, check us out on-line, phone the office or call in to us. We will be more than happy to help.”