Credit Unions

jont80

Not quite debt free wannabe but I cannot speak highly enough of these. I joined mine last week for a £5 an started saving with a £5 and applied to see if i could get a loan to consolidate my debt.
With no problem at all they have agreed to give me a loan to clear my debt. It wasnt small either just over £4000. I mention I had 2 defaults which they seen when they did a credit check but said it wasnt a problem. I wish these got the push which payday loans do advertising.
I hadnt even heard of a credit union til about 10 days ago.
So finally I can get myself back on track as my debt now is totally managable and not hundreds getting spent on payday loans interest.
I feel very fortunate for there help and it has encouraged me to save decent money with them from next month.So I can help other people who have the misfortune to get caught up with debt like I did,As some have helped me.
They could definatly help a few people on this forum,So check it out.
Even though I have a loan repayment to make I feel debt-free compared to what I was paying :j:beer:

Leixlip1

Fully agree, and credit unions are more ethical than the big banks.....and probably the small banks as well!
Joined my local one just over a year ago and have helped promote them through my work as well.

wanttosavemorespendless

Hi

I am in quite a bit of debt and due to pay Full and Final settlements but havent quite managed to save enough, do you think a credit union would be able to help me out, I would rather pay them back than my creditors. I have managed to save 5.5k, if I paid that into them how much of a loan I could get ? Any advice would be great.
Thanks E

rhcp

That's great news Jont80.

Could you tell me what interest rates they charged you?

jont80

I think different unions have different rules. Some state you can only lend to a certain percentage of what you have saved others like the union I joined let you borrow as soon as you join.I think some also require that you need to save with them for 6 weeks making regular payments before you can borrow ( regular payment being anything you can afford). So you will need to check with your local union. Since I borrowed straight away and didnt have a regular savings with them I got put on the highest intrest rate which is 26% APR. Which is higher than what banks charge (But sometimes a bank isnt an option) but not by much in some cases. 26% to me though is a hell of alot cheaper than the 2500% the payday loan companies charge plus your credit record isnt going to ruin with defaults. Also you can overpay and pay it off early with no extra charges. It might not be for everyone but they can certainly get you out of a tricky spot and for that im grateful.

jont80

The maxium you could lend from my union is £5000,I think. Coming to think of it the last bank loan I had from Barclays was something like 20% APR. So not really that much difference.