Starter Loans are for new members or existing members who have insufficient savings to qualify for one of the other types of loan or don’t qualify for some other reason. Depending on your past loan history, you can borrow up to £1,000 for between 4 and 10 months. Interest rates are 3% per month flat (42.58% APR) – compare this with other lenders charging sometimes in excess of 1,000% APR!
Just so you can get some idea of the amount you can borrow and how much it will cost in terms of monthly repayments and interest costs, we have included a calculator below. Pull the sliders around to see an illustration of what the loan could cost you, but bear in mind that there are minimum payment constraints which may apply.
Loan Details
Let’s take a look at the Starter Loan in more detail to see whether you’re eligible and whether it meets your needs. The full Terms and Conditions are shown below, but here’s a brief run-down.
- Starter Loans are for new and existing members who don’t qualify for one of the other loans.
- For the first loan, you can borrow between £100 and £500, for the second, £100 to £750 and for the third and any subsequent loans, £100 to £1,000.
- The period you can borrow over is between 4 and 10 months.
- You can top up to a maximum of your initial loan amount ONCE provided you have repaid at least half of it and you’ve been making your payments on time with no arrears.
- We will carry out an affordability check based on the information you provide us to help prevent you getting into financial difficulties.
- We will carry out a Credit Check, although a poor credit score will not necessarily mean you won’t be granted a loan.
- We will take into account your previous payment history if you have had loans with us in the past.
- When filling in the form, it’s important you are truthful. Any discrepancies found will necessarily affect whether you will be granted a loan.
New members will be required to join the credit union and we’ll use the information you supply in your Membership and Loan Applications to carry out an identity check. Known as “Know Your Customer” or KYC checks, this is a requirement placed on all financial institutions, including banks, building societies and, of course, credit unions. For full details, please see the Adult Membership page.
Loan Advance Payment
We can pay your loan advance by Faster Payments Transfer to your Bank Account or by transfer to your City of Plymouth Credit Union Savings Account. You can then use your Savings Account to top up your Prepaid Debit Card if you have one.
Apply for Loan
When uploading bank statements, can you ensure that you upload a pdf file from your bank rather than using your camera to photograph bank statement pages. This will prevent problems with readability and processing your application.