Castle & Crystal Credit Union

Good:
Members area on their website so you can manage your finances online

Bad:
You must live or work in the Dudley Borough to become a member

Verdict:
If you have bad credit, they can help you rebuild your finance but they also offer low rates for people with good credit

You must live or work in the Dudley Borough to become a member.

Credit Unions offer a few different unsecured loans for any purpose. Their loans fairly cheap and are based on your proven ability to repay, this is why they do a thorough check of your income and expenditures. You need to be a member but you can apply for a HandiLoan as soon as you are a member, but only up to £300.

They offer 2 loans: Handiloans (£100-£999) and Loans (£1,000-£10,000)

First you will need to become a member of the union. In order to apply for a loan, you can download a form off their website (see example below). Complete this and hand it in to their office or one of the collection points, along with the documentation listed below. A member of staff will copy your documents and will arrange a brief interview with the Loans Officer. After the interview, a decision is made in 3 days. After that, you need to sign a loan agreement.

The process may in some cases take up to two weeks so this is not a good option for you if you need your money quickly. You can manage your loan online so if you need to make changes it is easily accessible. With credit unions, the money you are borrowing is the money of other members, so if you fail to make payments, they take this very seriously. Their opening hours are very limited, which makes it difficult for you to go in to organise all your documents and sign your agreement. On the other hand, they want to help you rebuild your finances if you haven't got a good history. Their rates are extremely low and their repayments are really small each month.

Monday -Thursday: 9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday: 9:30am - 4:00pm