Credit Unions: Official MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Durasell

How can business utilise credit unions?

byjimini

I've been reading up about credit unions lately, and I'd love to join. The problem I have is:

I already have debt that I'm trying to pay off, so it's pointless saving anything until that's taken care of.

my household have debts, and so I often dip into my overdraft for a week to lend them money to pay their bills until they get paid. With no overdraft facility, the credit union could do me more damage than good.

However, I do like to keep things local, so as soon as I'm debt free, I plan on opening a savings account.

Albert99

is there anywhere that lists the %apr of all the credit unions? I've found websites that list uk credit unions http://www.creditunions.co.uk however it doesn't like the savings and lending %apr

Neptune

Milarky wrote: »

For example membership is limited to 5000 I believe

Just to say this can't be the case as Bristol Credit Union has a membership of 7764 for 2011/2012 and is still growing rapidly, up from 6594 on 2010/2011.

antrobus

Albert99 wrote: »

is there anywhere that lists the %apr of all the credit unions? I've found websites that list uk credit unions http://www.creditunions.co.uk however it doesn't like the savings and lending %apr

Statute law states that the maximum APR a credit union can charge on a loan is 2% per month or 26.8% pa, although most credit unions offer some kind of lending product that is cheaper than that as well. Rates on deposits vary from institution to institution - for standard CU deposits it's in the form of a dividend paid out of profits rather than a pre-determined percentage.

antrobus

Neptune wrote: »

Just to say this can't be the case as Bristol Credit Union has a membership of 7764 for 2011/2012 and is still growing rapidly, up from 6594 on 2010/2011.

There appear to have been limits on membership for credit unions in Northern Ireland. Whether these limits still apply I don't know, and in any case the rules for CUs are different in NI to the rest of the UK for some reason.

gavindave84

In relation to the 'Wealth tax' that is in the works of happening in Cyprus. Would a credit union still be exposed to such a tax if it was introduced in britain?

rudimcd

I've been with my credit union over 2 years. Since Oct 2013 they no longer go through your income/outgoings you just fill a basic form stating your income(s) & a copy of your rent statement. My main question is after being with them for this period of time is it normal you must have & sustain a fifth of your loan amount before you get a loan. eg: £1000 loan i must have £200 in my savings & keep that amount there. It sort of works out as an £800 loan although you're paying interest on the full £1000,thanks

JuicyJesus

rudimcd wrote: »

I've been with my credit union over 2 years. Since Oct 2013 they no longer go through your income/outgoings you just fill a basic form stating your income(s) & a copy of your rent statement. My main question is after being with them for this period of time is it normal you must have & sustain a fifth of your loan amount before you get a loan. eg: £1000 loan i must have £200 in my savings & keep that amount there. It sort of works out as an £800 loan although you're paying interest on the full £1000,thanks

It's very normal - it's part of how credit unions are kept (mostly) financially viable.

stu_smith86

I have recently applied for a loan with a credit union and originally I was declined having stated that I had failed to inform them of an adverse entry on my credit file. I feel we clarified this as an error with Experian, but having appealed they have still declined me due to the reason that their ALP (Automatic Lending Platform) has returned the result of decline.

Having done a bit of research I have found that this is a platform that was designed as part of the Credit Union Expansion Project and uses information from Experian.

I guess I am looking for some information about this system and what sort of things will cause it to give me a decline.

I don't have particularly bad credit. I haven't had any arrangements, defaults, ccj's. I have had some late payments and a high utilisation of credit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks in advance
Stuart