FAQs

Like all credit unions, the Acorn Community Bank is a financial co-operative, owned and controlled by its members.

While credit unions offer many of the same services as High Street banks, they operate a different business model with members electing the directors. Any operating surplus generated from a credit union’s activities is either re-invested in the business or distributed among members by way of a dividend.

Worldwide, credit unions now control assets worth billions of pounds. However, the common ethos is providing ethical financial services to members.

Credit unions offer a range of savings accounts, with members choosing how much – or how little – they want to save. They also offer loan products suited to members’ needs, with the focus being on the member’s ability to afford repayments.

Surveys of customers at banks and credit unions have consistently shown a significantly higher customer satisfaction rate with the quality of service at credit unions.

Like all credit unions, the Acorn Community Bank is a financial co-operative, owned and controlled by its members.

While credit unions offer many of the same services as High Street banks, they operate a different business model with members electing the directors. Any operating surplus generated from a credit union’s activities is either re-invested in the business or distributed among members by way of a dividend.

Worldwide, credit unions now control assets worth billions of pounds. However, the common ethos is providing ethical financial services to members.

Credit unions offer a range of savings accounts, with members choosing how much – or how little – they want to save. They also offer loan products suited to members’ needs, with the focus being on the member’s ability to afford repayments.

Surveys of customers at banks and credit unions have consistently shown a significantly higher customer satisfaction rate with the quality of service at credit unions.

We provide simple savings and affordable loans to people who live or work in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire. 

We try to help people get on top of their finances by encouraging them to save money when times are good, so we can offer them more affordable loans when they need to borrow. 

We are owned and run by our members, so our members’ interests always come first.

We recommend that you download our phone app to view your account details. Alternatively you may access it via the Members Area. If you do not have a PIN, or have forgotten it, you may request for it to be reset, and this will be sent to your e-mail address.

It is very important that you advise us if any of the following changes:

• Your address
• Your bank account details
• Your phone number

We will need to verify this information whenever we assess a loan, so please notify us as soon as any changes occur. The easiest way to do this is to write to us at office@acorncb.co.uk.  If you change your address, please send us an official letter (e.g. from the council) with your new address on it.  If you change your bank account, please send us a photo of your bank card, showing your name and account details (you may cover the long 16-digit number).

The Common Bond of Acorn Community Bank determines who can become a member of the organisation.

As a quick guide, admission to membership of Acorn Community Bank is restricted to all people, people, who live or work in Wiltshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxford.

In addition, any individual who is a member of the same household as, and is a relative of, any person who is a member of the credit union and falls directly within a common bond specified above. Also, a member who moves out of the area may still continue their membership.

To join, simply click the “Join Us and Save” link at the top of the page and complete the form.  We will then process your membership, and you will hear back from us in a few days. If you would like to apply for a loan at the same time as joining, please follow the “John Us and Borrow” link.

You can apply for membership at the same time as you apply for your first loan – follow the “John Us and Borrow” link.

Rather than receive a fixed interest rate on their savings, credit union members share in a dividend payment which is based on the surplus earned by the credit union over the course of the financial year.

The level of dividend is recommended by the board of directors and then agreed at the Annual General Meeting of Acorn Community Bank, which every member can attend. The level of dividend will usually vary from year to year, depending on how successful the credit union has been.

Absolutely. Like all major financial institutions, we are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to depositors if an organisation is unable to meet its financial obligations. Find out more about this scheme here.

We are also authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. This means that we meet strict conditions for trading, we are required to submit information on our financial performance to the regulators every three months and our directors and senior staff are vetted by the regulators.

Unlike other lenders, credit unions encourage their members to save money.  We ask you to put aside a small amount of money aside each time you make a loan repayment.  This way you will build up some savings which you can use in the future.  Many of our members have built up savings pots of hundreds of pounds this way.

Looking to withdraw some of your savings?

The easiest way to withdraw your savings is by visiting the Members Area or downloading the phone app.

If you are unable to use these facilities, then please call our offices on 03030300147 or send an email to office@acorncb.co.uk.

All share withdrawal requests made by 1.00pm will be processed on that day, and funds will be sent that same evening by immediate payment to the designated account, and should appear there within 24 hours. All share withdrawals received on weekends, public or bank holidays, or any other day that the credit union office is closed will be dealt with on the next day that the office is open..

Please note that you may be restricted on the amount of savings you can withdraw if you have an active loan. 

Members must leave a minimum of £1 in your Share1 Regular Savings Account at all times.

Why not take a Secured Loan instead?

Instead of withdrawing your hard earned savings why not consider a Secured Loan, which allows you to keep all your hard-earned savings intact – and enjoy our lowest rate of interest.

Find out more about our Loyalty Savers and Secured Loans here.

Personal loans from Acorn Community Bank are available for any purpose be it a new car, an exotic holiday, a lovely wedding, helping with Christmas expenses or home improvements.

We offer loans from £200 to £15,000.  The amount you may borrow will depend on several factors, including:

• Your savings and borrowing record with us
• Your general credit history
• Your ability to repay the loan.

All our loans are based on affordability, so as a responsible lender, it is important that we ask you to confirm your income and expenditure. For this reason many loan applicants will be required to send in copies of wage slips and bank statements to show these incomings and outgoings.

This ensures that we do not take unnecessary risks with the credit union’s funds and do not give out loans where we feel it will result in the member getting into financial difficulty. It also means that we can look beyond a member’s credit report to try to help them in every way we can.

Our loans page tells you more about the process we go through when assessing loans.

We aim to complete assessments within 5 working days, though sometimes it can take a little longer.  A critical part of our assessment is your Income and Expenditure form.  Please ensure this is completed accurately – we may have to come back to you for clarification on some points.   Also, if you have changed your address or bank details recently, we will need to verify these.

We aim to return Child Benefit payments by 4.00pm on the day your Child Benefit is received.  Often they will arrive back by 1.00pm and occasionally they are delayed to 8.00pm.  We process Child Benefit payments early in the mornings of the days we receive them, and then send the return payments to our bank.  When delays occur, it is usually out of our hands.

• For Family Loans, you may apply for a top-up every four months.
• For other loan products you may apply for a top-up after half of the loan has been repaid.
• Top-ups will be assessed in the same way as new loans, so are not guaranteed.  We always recommend that members clear down one loan before starting a new one.
• When you top up your loan, 20% of your required savings will be retained in your account, but the rest will be transferred to your main savings account and will be available for withdrawal. However, we would recommend that you keep them in your account, so you can build up a savings pot for the future. Required savings may be used as the basis for larger, Loyalty Savings Loans.

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All our loans are based on affordability, so as a responsible lender, it is important that we ask you to confirm your income and expenditure. For this reason many loan applicants will be required to send in copies of wage slips and bank statements to show these incomings and outgoings.

This ensures that we do not take unnecessary risks with the credit union’s funds and do not give out loans where we feel it will result in the member getting into financial difficulty. It also means that we can look beyond a member’s credit report to try to help them in every way we can.

When you borrow money, you need to pay for the administration of the loan.  This “interest” charge amount is applied each month as you repay the loan, and goes towards the running costs of the credit union. Any surplus money we have at the end of the year is reinvested into the development of the credit union and also returned to our members as dividends, where possible.

A key factor in deciding to approve any unsecured borrowing is that the member can afford the repayments. That decision is based on the HOUSEHOLD income and expenditure, which is why we ask for information about a partner’s income

Any loan with Acorn Community Bank is the responsibility of the individual member. Although we may ask for information about a partner’s income, that is solely to help ensure that the household income can afford the repayments. A member’s partner is NOT liable for loan repayments.

If we ask you to provide payslips, bank statements, or any other documentary evidence for a loan request, you should always suppply us with COPIES as we can’t return the documents to the member.

When you are making copies of, for example, bank statements, please ensure all the information is legible and that it covers the dates required.

If you fail to supply the required information, or details are not clearly visible, it could well delay your application.