“We're all about helping our neighbours”

Wave Community Bank is a credit union that covers Kent and Medway. We spoke to Community Engagement Officer Jennifer Sutton to find out more about what they do and how they can help local residents. We also spoke about how she came to work at Wave, how it differs from high-street banking, and the number one thing someone can do to improve their financial situation in 2026.

What is your official occupation? 
My official title is Community Engagement Officer at Wave Community Bank. 

Do you have any additional roles, paid or unpaid? 
Yes, of course I do. I'm the manager of Creative Coast Events, which organise events and Christmas markets in the Dover area. I sit on the past pupils and staff association for Dover Grammar School for Girls, because of course I do. Announcing in the new year, this is breaking news, I am a trustee for Keep Talking Services, a charity based in Herne Bay.

What is the Wave Community Bank? 
The Wave Community Bank is a credit union. That's our legal structure.  But most people know us as a non-profit bank. The way that it works is that people in our community save with us, so that we can give loans in our community to people who are struggling, who've got low credit scores, who might be experiencing a financial pickle. But with each loan we give out, there's a savings component. Where they might not be able to access money from the main high street lenders, we're able to say yes, or maybe. Obviously, it's based on circumstances. But the idea is that we are able to give them loans where they couldn't access it. They're not going to high APR lenders like credit cards, loan sharks, and then we're able to make them safe. They have a bit of financial resilience. That's the whole idea. 

It's never going to make you rich, but it does make you feel rich at the end of the day, knowing that you've helped your neighbours.

Why should someone able to access normal high street banking facilities save with you?
Because we're all about helping our neighbours. It's not going to get you a high interest rate on your return, because there isn't any. We're very clear about that. However, we are launching in January our reward system with very similar to a blue light card system where you can get discounts with over 100 different retailers, and it's free just by being a member. By saving with us, you're helping your community members, you're using your money in a slightly different way. It's never going to make you rich, but it does make you feel rich at the end of the day, knowing that you've helped your neighbours and sometimes people that you meet in the community who you don't know are experiencing financial issues and maybe having poverty. It's helping those neighbours and that's the whole idea. It doesn't need to be a lot of money. It can be a tenner, but ten pounds is better than nothing. It also means it's in a slightly different place to your normal banking. When you're out and about, the temptation to move money across is really strong. You can't do that as quickly. You can, but it's not as quick. That means that if you're thinking, I definitely want to buy that new gadget, you have to wait a little bit. 

What can you tell us about Wave’s reward system?
Some of those discounts are actually with the big food retailers. That's important, and it's going to make a difference because if it costs £6 to join the bank, because it's a pound membership fee and a £5 admin. You can access a whole load of savings. Why wouldn't you do that? Then you get to know about us and know that we're trying to do good things. 

We’ve got over five million in loans out in the community.

When is that launching? 
Beginning in January. Equally, it's probably worth knowing that we've had 59% growth. We're not small, and we've got over five million in loans out in the community. We're a little dynamic in that we have a business development team, which a lot of credit unions don't. We're still growing, and lots of credit unions are shrinking. We're really lucky actually, when we go to big conferences, everybody wants to talk to us because they want to know what we're doing. We're just doing our jobs, but because we're so different to everybody else, everybody wants to see what we're doing, which is really flattering and terrifying at the same time.  

As a community bank, do you have physical bank premises, or is it all online?
We don't have a physical bank premises. We've got two offices, one in Maidstone and one in Hove. You can make an appointment to go into the Hove one, which I know is a bit far for the Kent residents. But we do answer the phone, shocker. Which is why we won the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce Award for Customer Service. Because we answer the phone. You can send messages via the app, via the website and emails and we answer them really quickly. But the majority of our business is done online or via the app, which is designed to be very simple, very easy to access. It's not complicated. It doesn't have lots of pop-ups with lots of things that you can't find. It's very basic and straightforward, which is perfect.