Our loans

The amount you can borrow will depend on individual circumstances and the type of loan. We provide loans ranging from £200 to £15,000. The sum you can request will depend on various factors, including:

• Your savings and borrowing history with us
• Your overall credit history
• Your capacity to repay the loan.

All our loans are assessed based on affordability to ensure responsible lending. To confirm your income and expenses, we may request open banking, wage slips and bank statements. This helps us protect our members from potential financial difficulties and maintain the security of the credit union’s funds. By looking beyond credit reports, we aim to offer personalized support and explore all ways to help you achieve your financial goals responsibly.   

We aim to complete assessments within 5 working days, though sometimes it can take a little longer. A critical part of our assessment is the 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 address or bank details recently, we will need to verify these as part of the assessment process.   

If you wish to make loan payments, you can do so via bank transfer using the below details.

Account Name: Acorn Community Bank

Account Number: 04242184

Sort Code: 30-97-41

Please make sure to add your member number as a bank reference.

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

You can apply for a top-up on completion of 6 months since the loan was issued provided you have paid off at least 30% of the original Loan amount. Top–ups will be assessed in the same way as new loans and are not guaranteed. We always recommend that members clear down one loan before starting a new one. If you are approved for a top-up loan, your locked savings will be released, however we do recommend keeping the funds in your account, so you can build up a savings pot for the future. Locked savings can also be used as a security when applying for a loyalty loan which allows you to borrow 5 times your savings balance.   

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 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 supply 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.