LASA Credit Union

Good:
Assess your loan application thoroughly to make sure that you can actually afford the loan

Bad:
Must save regularly with them for 8 weeks before you can apply for a loan

Verdict:
If you are in no rush to get your loan, this is a great financial option - must live or work in Swansea

You must live or work in Swansea to become a member.

Credit Unions offer a few different unsecured loans for any purpose. Their loans are 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 and you can apply for a lower rate loan after you have been saving with them for 8 weeks.

Saver Loans: Must have saved for a minimum of 8 weeks. Your first loan can be up to three times the amount you have in your savings and the APR is 12.68%

Handy Loans: These are urgent loans or if you cannot afford to save for 8 weeks. As you have not proven your reliability on repayments the APR is a little higher at 26.8%.

Promotional Loans: New loan only available to members paying into their account via Payroll Deduction. The APR for this loan is 19.6%.

First you will need to become a member of the union. To apply for a loan, you need to complete the Loan Application Form (see example below), which you can download from their website. All loans are reviewed by the Loan Officer then by the Credit Committee meeting. They will inform you of their decision as soon as possible and you will be asked 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 cannot manage your loan online so if you need to make changes, you need to contact them or go into a branch. 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-Friday: 10:00am - 3:00pm