It’s come around again quickly, hasn’t it?!
At London Mutual, we know that the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ can also be the most expensive, and a stressful time for many.
So, if you’re looking to spread the cost of gifts or treating loved ones, a credit union loan could be an option.
This year’s Christmas Loan deadline is Friday 9 December at 4:30pm. If you are planning to apply, get your application in early to avoid disappointment. Here’s everything else you know.
Why a Credit Union Loan?
In a cost-of-living crisis, borrowing won’t be the right solution for everyone. As hard as it may be, the better option may be to cut back on non-essential spending. However, if you do choose to borrow, it’s best to plan ahead. The advantage of ‘planned’ borrowing such as a credit union loan is that it gives you the chance to work everything out in advance. You’ll know exactly how much you’re borrowing, how long it will take to pay back, the size of repayments, and the total cost.
That’s a big advantage over ‘unplanned’ borrowing, such as credit cards, where there’s the risk of taking on more debt than you can afford. There’s a greater chance of borrowing for things you don’t need, and with repayments that change from month to month, facing a spiral of debt.
Why the Deadline?
Here at London Mutual Credit Union, Christmas is our busiest time of year. Our team look at all loan applications individually. We rely on experience and a thorough understanding of your situation, rather than algorithms or automated systems, to decide if we can offer you a loan. But that takes time, so our Loans Team will be working overtime to get it all sorted!
To make sure we have time to make a fair decision, we have a loans deadline each year. This year, you need to submit your application by the end of the working day (4:30pm) on Friday 9th December.
What Happens if I Miss the Deadline?
We get it. Sometimes life happens. If we get your application after the deadline, we’ll do our best. As always, we will work to review and make a decision on your application as quickly as we can. After 9 December, we can’t make any promises of having it ready in time for Christmas. We will try our best, but a lot will depend on how busy things get.
How Can I Avoid Delays?
We’ll be doing everything we can to make a decision on your application, as soon as possible. But there are some things you can do to help us, and to avoid hold-ups:
- Make sure you upload all requested information (such as bank statements, payslips etc) as soon as you can. We can’t begin making a decision until we have these, so delays in getting to them to us are certain to delay your application.
- Using our ‘OohMoolah’ open banking service if you can. Through this service we can connect securely to your bank and automatically get a lot of the information we need about your finances. This saves you time by avoiding the need to send in bank statements, and speeds up our decision, as it makes it faster for our team to see the information they need.
- Checking your SPAM/Junk folder for emails from us. Sometimes we’ll need to contact you for more information or to request additional documents, and unfortunately, sometimes these messages end up in SPAM, causing delays, so be sure to check.
How to Contact Us
In the run-up to Christmas, our new telephone helpdesk will be going live (more on that soon). We’re expecting the new helpdesk to be able to deliver shorter waiting times and improved quality of service. However, it is still likely to be extremely busy. Please consider emailing or submitting a help request if your enquiry isn’t urgent. Currently, we’re resolving most issues via email within 1-2 working days, so it’s still pretty fast! Thank you, as always, for your support.
