Banks and Credit Unions take in money (“deposits”) from individual customers and lend money with interest. They make profit by charging more interest on loans than they pay on savings.
Kin works differently. Kin members save money together in groups.
Kin does not offer loans or any kind of personal, current or savings accounts. Kin hosts your group’s shared money and facilitates transactions between you and your group.
- Your money isn't deposited with Kin because money contributed to a group belongs to the whole group and it’s up to the group to decide what to do with it. A bit like a group bank account but only for mutual aid*.
- Kin doesn’t lend you money. You request money from your group. It’s up to you and your group to decide together if, how and when you pay it back.
That means, yes, there’s trust involved. If you don’t need trust, you don’t build trust and you don’t build community.
In other words, banks don't build community. We do.
- Kin is owned and controlled by its members (like a Credit Union), not external shareholders (like a Bank).
- And Kin is run on a not-for-profit basis.
*Kin groups can only be used for the purpose of mutual aid, you cannot use it to pay individuals for goods or services. For a fuller understanding of what Kin can be used for, read the Code of Conduct.
Kin Cooperative is a fiscal host. There are many fiscal hosts in the UK and around the world that operate for different kinds of groups and if your group isn't right for Kin Cooperative, we can connect you with a host that is better suited.