Leaving army - bank loan for housing rent deposit??

MrsgirouxGiroux

Hi,

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My husband is leaving the army after 16 yrs served, and will get a resettlement grant of around 12,000. We will have to leave our married quarters property and this will probably happen a month or so before this money comes through. We have no savings unfortunately and quite terrible credit ratings.

My question is would a high street bank be willing or more likely to give us a 2000 loan for example if we could provide evidence to show this resettlement is coming and therefore could be paid back within a month or to?? I know people may say the best solution would be to ask family or friends but after our recent wedding I hate to ask parents again!

If anyone could advise or perhaps suggest anything helpful that would be great (any ex military face the same problem?).

Thnk you!!

copa_feela

How bad is "quite terrible"? When is he leaving?

ses6jwg

Your first port of call should be your own bank who you hold your current account(s) with.

If they will not lend to you then its unlikely that others will accept you.

This is because your own bank know the most about your financial situation.

The major issue with being in the armed forces is that changing address regularly damages your credit rating.

MrsgirouxGiroux

Our credit is not good at all, I'd be refused a standard loan. We currently bank with Think Banking, who to be fair have helped us out quite well - we should've really tried to open a bank account with RBS by now just to get us back in the mainstream!

copa_feela

And how long until you leave, do you have time to save up?

MrsgirouxGiroux

It would be sensible to try and save, but my husband is really cracking on with various courses so he can get a job ASAP - this would mean early release hopefully. Most of his courses get paid for, but we're paying for others. I suppose some of that could wait, but I'm pleased he's really trying to get work sorted and appreciated he wants to sort the courses now - must be very scary after 16 yrs to think about a change of job.

So we could probably save some, I just have a feeling he'll be offered work quite quickly and we'll be kicked out!! (he's an awesome dude my fella ;-) )

Thanks for the responses!

telboyo

In my experience (22 yr ) if your OH gets a job offer during his terminal leave he should just take it and don't bother telling anyone. When I left the RAF I had accrued 3 months terminal untaken leave and was kicking my heels for a few weeks until I was offered a job. I had 2 months of being paid by both employers, nobody ever found out, after a couple of months I went self employed so the tax thing sorted itself out when I did my self assessment.
It is quite terrifying leaving a job at the age of 40 having been there since the age of 17, but once you get a job all that is required is that you turn up to work. For the first few yrs I was gobsmacked at the pathetic reasons people had for turning up late or not at all or their imaginary illnesses. When I say I was self-employed I was contracting at an aeropsace company, the permanent staff were constantly off sick, contractors were very rarely sick due to the fact that they don't get paid.

iolanthe07

When I was in the Navy there was a three month's grace period before having to leave Married Quarters after discharge (though you had to go on paying rent, obviously). Has this changed?