North East Scotland Credit Union

Good:
Multiple offices/collection points open at various times during the week for your convenience

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

Verdict:
They can help you rebuild your credit if you struggled with finance in the past - must live or work in Grampian

You must live or work in Grampian 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 an loan after saving with them for 8 weeks or have made 3 monthly payments. Once you have saved for this amount of time you can borrow up to three times your savings.

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 get from their office or from a collection point. You can then send it off to the office or collection point. All loans are reviewed by the Loan Officer. 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.

Head Office
Monday-Friday: 10:00am - 3:00pm (2:00pm on Mondays)

For further details about other collection points and their opening times, please visit the following link: http://www.nescu.co.uk/locations/