Staff of Mary MacKillop Today's financial inclusion program has taken up residence at 137 Piper Street, having moved from its old offices at the Scots Centre on George Street.

The move comes after the organisations growth in recent years, increasing from seven staff to 13.

Originally started by the Sisters of St Josephs at Perthville in 1998, the organisation has since been taken over by Mary MacKillop Today, after a merging of a number of the sisters' projects.

Team leader Anita Van Dertel said the service provides no interest loans (NILs), with up to $2000 for a normal loan or $5000 for a car loan.

"It's what they call community circulated credit. The sisters actually started it with their money. When it was paid back, it actually freed it up to lend it to others," she explained.

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"There's no interest or no contracts. It usually comes out of their Centrelink payment, as a direct deposit.

"About four years the sisters merged a number of their projects, to give them longevity. So it became a part of what we call Mary Mackillop Today. In that time, the financial inclusion has always been in Bathurst, Cowra, Lithgow and Young. We've now since spread to Orange, Condobolin and we're about to start in Penrith.

"We service pretty much all of Australia for the new pilot program called NILs for Cars."

There are a number of criteria for people to qualifying for a NIL, including low income or on a Centrelink benefit.

The service has evolved significantly since it was formed over two decades ago by the Sisters of St Josephs, but Ms Van Dertel is always contacting them for advice.

"As team leader, I always look to sisters to mentor me and to ask opinions. I always have them at the front of my mind and how I do it with grace and dignity," she said.

"I have an incredible team and we are unbelievably busy. With the car loans - we're one of three providers in Australia - we do people in Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory.

"It's the most awesome thing we could do. I'm just so honoured to do what I do. It all started out at a veranda at Perthville."

Funding for the NILs program comes from three main providers.

"We're in partnership with Good Shepherd, Department of Social Services and NSW Fair Trading," Ms Van Dertel said.

"Good shepherd was started by Sisters of Good Shepherd and it evolved into a micro finance, mega money thing. It offers household relief, COVID loans, DV loans."

Ms Van Dertel said she's noticed an increase in phone calls in recent times, putting it down to the significant rise in the cost of living.

"In the first seven working days of this month and we've had 175 inquiries and that's being open from 9am to 2pm. That's just our phoneline, so everywhere. The need is just incredible," she said.

"The cost of living has had an impact. We were never really a crisis centre but we get a lot of people in crisis and we help them as much as we can.

"There's a limit to what we can do with our resources, but we just refer to other community resources."

Staff moved into its new location at the start of July, with the venue to be officially blessed by Michael McKenna, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst, on Tuesday, August 16.

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