Youth Hub East Central Scotland and the Borders
Explore resources that can help teens navigate their finances in East Central Scotland and the Borders.
Junior Squirrels
Caledonian Credit Union operates school collections in several primary schools throughout West Lothian. Do your children belong to a school credit union? If not, check the list below of schools where we have a collection. If your school is not on the list and you would like to set up a school collection at your school get in touch with our Schools Co-ordinator who would be very pleased to speak to you and the school on how to go about it. It's very easy and with our help you could have the school collection up and running very quickly.
Contact 01506 436666 OR email info@caledoniancu.co.uk to request a Membership Application Form
Enquiry Form via this website - go to “Contact Us”. Request a form from here!
Complete a Membership form from the “School Collection Point”.
Direct from the Bank - Details “how to” deposit direct from a bank account will be provided upon account set up.
Deposit by Debit Card - Telephone 01506 436666
Anyone can add to a child’s account - details can be provided to relations/friends for “Birthday gifts, Christmas gifts etc”.
At School - Juniors Squirrels hold “Collection Points” in several Schools throughout West Lothian - savings can be added to here - check the list or contact your child’s School. Schools are gradually re-opening their school collections after Covid. Those that have reopened are:
Active
- Bankton Primary School
- Harrysmuir Primary School
- Inveralmond Community High School
- Kirknewton Primary School
- Linlithgow Primary School
- Peel Primary School
- Pumpherston & Uphall Station Primary School
- St John Ogilvie Primary School
- St Ninian's Primary School
- Springfield Primary School
- Torphican Primary School
- Uphall Primary School
- Westfield Primary School
Training In Progress
- Parkhead Primary School
- Simpsons Primary School
Discussions held with
- St Andrew's Primary School
- Riverside Primary School
- St Mary's Primary School
- Williamson's Primary School
- Bridgend Primary School
- Letham Primary School
- St Margaret's High School
- Low Port Primary School
Our Schools Co-ordinator can be contacted on 01506 436666 - leave a message with one of the team and your call will be returned
or e-mail: schools@westlothiancreditunion.co.uk
Let the School Co-ordinator know if you think your child’s School might be interested in starting a collection OR you may be thinking of getting involved. You can volunteer with Caledonian CU!
The School Co-ordinator and volunteers are working hard to reopen the “Collection Points” now that the schools can allow access.
Telephone - Only the account guardian can access balance information or withdrawals - more than one guardian can be named “Mum & Dad” or “Dad & Gran” - telephone 01506 436666 to arrange or action a withdrawal to a bank account
Once the young person becomes 16 years of age the account is reclassified - the named guardian no longer has access to balances OR funds held in the account - this now moves to the account holder - we will write to them asking they update their account details as the account is now “Reclassified to Adult status”.
- Saving habit for life - start early
- Supporting The Local Community in Schools
- Encourage “Gifts” to be added to account - save and pull together for those special items!
- Saving for “Driving Lessons”
- Saving for “Mortgage Deposit”
- Saving for “Season tickets”
- Saving for “Concerts”
- Saving for “Computer Consoles & games”
- Saving for “Fashion”
The list is endless, these are examples of “reasons” for saving in Junior Squirrel accounts in the past!
I have been saving with Caledonian Credit Union since I was at primary school. When I turned 17, I bought my first car and now at 19 have managed to buy my first house. I feel the Credit Union has helped me to achieve this by giving me guidance and I would highly recommend and encourage anyone to open an account and save with Caledonian Credit Union
College Savings Account
3 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP OF CALEDONIAN CREDIT UNION
Starting college for the first time can be a very stressful time in your life. The first thing you should know is that it’s totally different from secondary school. This is the moment in your life when you get to make decisions about your own life and education. Not only that, college can be expensive, and you can’t expect your parents to be totally responsible for your financial wellbeing while at college. Hence, our youth hub in West Lothian offers college and University Students a Caledonian CU Savings account.
- It Will Help You Save for the Future
- It May Allow You to Borrow
- It Marks the Beginning of a New Adventure!
You should not let the logistics of starting college bring you down! This is an exciting time in your life and you should view this change as nothing but positive. This is about starting a new chapter in your life. That’s why if you become a member of Caledonian Credit Union - we are on your doorstep - you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that you can have savings ready for that rainy day.
Why not find out more about our loan options? All you have to do is click here or apply online here.
College Budgeting
3 Budgeting Tips from our Youth Hub You Should Use in College
You don’t have to live on beans and rice this semester (trust us, we’ve been there) if you just manage to save a little. Saving starts by being wise about where your money is going and saying no to that dress, or a new t-shirt. Just be logical, avoid random splurges on things you don’t need and get saving with Caledonian Credit Union. At the end of the day, we’ve only got your own financial well-being at heart. Budgeting is never as important as when you’re at college, that's why our youth hub has devised some budget tips to make those broke days… a little brighter. Let’s take a look.
You’ll need some paper and a pen. Then it’s time to make a list of all of your expenses and the exact amount of money that is coming in each week. Budgets only work if you list every one of your expenses for the month. That’s why it’s important to create a budget and stick to it.
College is expensive, but it’s also made slightly worse when you spend money you didn’t have. That’s the worse. Try to stick to your weekly budget we spoke about and don’t go crazy. If you’re really worried about overspending, you can always leave your money with us. The chances are, you’ll be less likely to overspend if you don’t have money in your hand. You can find out more here.
We all love the TV show ‘Say Yes to the Dress’, but if you really want to budget you need to say no… and mean it! In order to budget, you need to stick to it, unless of course, you’ve budgeted some money to treat yourself, then it’s fine. On a serious note, if you’re really serious about budgeting and saving some cash, it’s best to overlook the things you want for the things that are really important.
