FAQs

You can make deposits into your savings account with us either by cheque, by bank transfer or by payroll deduction. If you have lost your NLCU bank account details then just get in touch and we’ll confirm them for you.

The amount you save we leave up to you! There are no transactional fees with saving. We have a range of savings accounts and you can request your deposits be split for different purposes like Christmas or Holidays. The maximum balance we can hold in our accounts for a single person is £10000.

Usually yes! As a financial cooperative we share our profits with our shareholders – and all our customers are our shareholders.

Once we have paid for running costs and paid into our legally required reserves we share the rest amongst members based on the amount in their savings.  The dividend that we pay to our members is voted on at our yearly AGM – see our downloads page for more info from our last AGM.

You can withdraw funds:

1. Online using our online banking service or our mobile app
2. Over the phone on 0330 004 0842 – lines open Monday to Friday 10am-3pm

Requested withdrawals are processed between 9am and 3pm every weekday.  Withdrawals made after 3pm, on weekends or bank holidays will be sent the following workday morning.

If requested online, this show as “Pending” until we’ve set up your withdrawal.

Notts and Lincs Credit Union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

All savings held with Notts and Lincs Credit Union are protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which protects savings up to the value of £85,000.

Whether employed or in receipt of benefits, you can apply with us.  As a responsible lenders we have to check that you can afford the repayments and have a good history of repaying your debts.  However, we are more understanding about financial problems and poor credit than most lenders.

We look at all circumstances and consider more than just your credit score.  We promote responsible lending and all loans are based on your ability to repay.  The maximum loan we currently offer is £15,000.

We offer Personal Loans for a variety of purposes – whether that be a loan for your dream holiday, wedding, a new car, home improvements or electrical goods.  However, we cannot currently offer business or property loans.

There are some other occasions where we cannot lend, for instance where someone is in an active Debt Relief Order, Individual Voluntary Arrangement or Bankruptcy.  Borrowers must be over 18 and be able to demonstrate that they can afford repayments.

We don’t currently offer loans to anyone with an income lower than £130 per week altogether.

If you’ve never applied with our credit union before then you can apply straight away!

If you have applied with us before then we ask that you wait at least 6 months before applying again.

When assessing our loans we perform some checks first of all to help us get an idea of your circumstances.  We start off with checking affordability and we credit score all of our applications.  As soon as these checks are made, a member of our loans team will review this during working hours and, if we feel we require them, we may ask that you provide some documents in support of your application.

While we do credit score our applications, this isn’t the only thing we consider when making our decisions.  When looking at loans we consider a number of factors including:

• Affordability – Income / Expenditure
• Credit history (existing defaults, CCJs, DROs, IVAs and also debts you’re paying off well)
• Length at current address and addresses in the last 3 years
• Length of time served in current employment (if applicable)
• Existing and outstanding debts, their APR, value and length of time you have had the debt and over-the-limit balances
• Any history with us (both Savings and Loans)

This process on average takes us around 1-2 working days (usually dependant on how soon we receive supporting documents), at which time we will get back to you with our decision and how to proceed going forward.

We will always offer you the best loan rate that we can. Our rates are capped which makes them considerably cheaper than some lending options, but we offer lower rates for people who pay us through Payroll or who are Homeowners.  For more info on our typical APRs, see our Loans page.

We charge interest only on your reducing balance. That means the sooner you repay the less interest you will pay.   There are no charges or additional fees for early repayment of loans, either through making larger monthly payments or one off lump sums.  We only charge you for the outstanding balance, which is better for your pocket.

You can make extra repayments towards your loan or settle your loan early if you want to – this will save on the total interest that you will pay back and we charge no fees for this.

If you require a settlement figure for your loan then please get in touch with NLCU directly and we will be able to provide you with this – our interest is calculated daily, so you will require the figure on the day you are due to pay.

For the bank details to make a payment toward your loan balance, please get in touch with the credit union.

To apply, you need to complete our loan application form – online, by mobile app or on paper (in branch or by post). We usually ask that you provide 3 months bank statements and proof of your income in order to get the best idea of your current situation as part of this.

If applying on paper, we ask that you always provide these documents with your application, to make sure there are no delays in getting a decision back to you.

Some of our members experience difficulty repaying their loans due to unforeseen circumstances. Please contact us as soon as possible, and we will do all we can to try to help. We will review your income and expenditure and may restructure your loan if necessary.

We have many members who we support in this way and, once you are back on your feet, you can borrow again from us if you want.

If you need to speak to us about making payments to your loan, please contact us on:

Telephone: 0330 004 0842 opt. 2 (weekdays 10am-3pm)

Email: arrears@nottsandlincscu.co.uk

If there has been a change in circumstances that could affect your repayments then let us know.  Remember, missed payments can affect your credit score and your standing with the credit union.  The sooner you let us know of any problems, the better.

We’ve found that some problems can arise from individual browser or VPN security settings, which can block login attempts.  In the first instance we usually ask that you try a different device, browser or the mobile app instead.

Our online accounts have a security feature that temporarily blocks your logins after more than 3 consecutive invalid login attempts.  If you’re struggling to get on after setting up your password either try again in 30 minutes, try another device/browser, or contact the credit union if you have any further problems.

Requested withdrawals are processed between 9am and 3pm every weekday.  Withdrawals made after 3pm, on weekends or bank holidays will be sent the following workday morning. If requested online, this show as “Pending” until we’ve set up your withdrawal.

All other requests including secure messages, information updates and bank account queries will be processed within 1 working day – we will email you with any updates.

There are several instances where some/all of your savings balance isn’t available for withdrawal:

1. We ask that you leave £1 in your Regular Savings account at all times in order to keep your account open.  As such, the available balance that you can withdraw will be £1 less than the total balance.
2. Pledged Savings accounts build alongside your loan and remain unavailable for withdrawal until your loan has been repaid in full.
3. Christmas Savings accounts are only available for withdrawal between 1st October and 31st January every year, otherwise these remain unavailable online. If you require access to these funds early then please send us a Secure Message and we will do our best to help.

If you are having trouble requesting a withdrawal outside of these exceptions, please contact us for help in resolving the matter.

Our online banking/mobile app only allows you to withdraw to bank details you have already registered with us, for security of our accounts.

In order to manage the accounts you can request withdrawals to, you can use our “Add bank details” and “Remove bank details” forms.  We will process your requests with 1 working day and will contact you separately if we require any more information.

We work together with many partner organisations to enable them to help their employees save. Employees specify the amount they wish to save and this is deducted from their salary via payroll and transferred directly into their NLCU savings account.  If the employee wishes to apply for a loan the repayment amount can be made in the same way, via payroll.

All of the employees of any local organisation that has joined the scheme are eligible for payroll membership.  Find out if your employer already works with us on our Payroll page or, if your company is based locally, suggest our services to your employer!

Once you’ve opened an account with us, you simply need to print and fill in our Payroll Deduction Order with your desired monthly/weekly savings and return this to us to get started.  If you don’t have access to a printer then we have these forms either in branch or available to post to you – just get in touch and let us know!

Boots employees must set up deductions through their Benefits Box account.

To make a change to your regular payroll deduction at any time, you just need to print and fill in our Payroll Deduction Order with your new savings value and return this to us to update this.  If you don’t have access to a printer then we have these forms either in branch or available to post to you – just get in touch and let us know!

Boots employees must use their Benefits Box account to manage their deductions.

Credit Unions are local, member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperatives operated on the principle of people helping people.  Credit unions have been helping people in the UK for over 50 years and over 1.4 million UK residents currently have a credit union account, with over 270 million members worldwide!

These accounts are designed to promote responsible lending and credit unions do not lend more than you can afford to repay.  They do this by:

• Promoting good money management – members are encouraged to save as well as borrow money.
• Provide loans with fair and reasonable interest rates.
• Helping members to use money wisely and manage their finances.

Credit Union interest rates are capped which makes them considerably cheaper than some lending options. They also offer flexible repayment terms without penalties and hidden costs.

It’s easiest to update your information with us either by logging in online or on our mobile app.  We have a suite of forms to manage your account online, including forms to update your personal information, marketing preferences, registered bank accounts and beneficiaries.  Updates like these are processed within 1 working day – we will contact you if we require anything else to update your account.

We can update certain information informally over the phone or in branch e.g. contact details or marketing preferences. However, under banking law, we have to gain official documentation confirming any important changes like name or address details.  We can verify this digitally if requested online but if you want to update this with us directly then we require something official be provided, such as photo ID, a letter from the council or a bank statement as proof of the requested changes.

Keeping your details up to date with us helps us keep in touch with you about your account and any news about the credit union, as well as allowing us to contact you if we have any important information to share.

If you are looking to close your account with us then you simply have to withdraw the full balance saved with us and let us know – there are two simple ways of doing this:

1. You can do this online by sending a secure message and selecting the subject “How do I Close my Account?” – we will run you through the next steps and confirm the bank details to send your funds to as part of this.
2. You can do this in-branch or over the phone – we will run through some security questions to confirm your identity and confirm which bank details to send your remaining savings to as part of this.

Please note that an account with an outstanding loan balance cannot be closed until the loan has been fully repaid.

You can make a formal complaint to us in a number of ways (e.g. in branch or by phone) but it’s usually best to refer your complaint to us either by email or post, as this allows us to more easily refer your complaint to the correct person/department, gives us a fuller understanding of your complaint in order to resolve it, and provides you with an audit trail of the dates and records of your complaint for future reference.

You can find our full Internal Complaints Procedure on our Legal page.

Some of our members experience difficulty repaying their loans due to unforeseen circumstances. Please contact us as soon as possible, and we will do all we can to try to help. We will review your income and expenditure and may restructure your loan if necessary.

We have many members who we support in this way and, once you are back on your feet, you can borrow again from us if you want.

If you need to speak to us about making payments to your loan, please contact us on:

Telephone: 0330 004 0842 opt. 2 (weekdays 10am-3pm)

Email: arrears@nottsandlincscu.co.uk

If there has been a change in circumstances that could affect your repayments then let us know.  Remember, missed payments can affect your credit score and your standing with the credit union.  The sooner you let us know of any problems, the better.