FAIRshare Loans

Fair & Manageable with Flexible Repayments

FAIRshare promotes responsible lending, calculated through our affordability assessment

When you choose to borrow from us, we’ll allocate part of each loan repayment to your savings account.  This is known as Save as you Borrow. It means that when you’ve repaid your loan, you’ll also have saved a cash lump sum.  It is one of the great benefits of borrowing from FAIRshare.

All loan applications are assessed in person by a Loan Officer, and decisions are based on affordability.  As part of the assessment we will perform credit and identity checks on you with one or more credit reference agencies. You must be over 18 years can apply for a loan.

Saver Loan

Borrow £50 – £7500

  • Save as you borrow
  • Borrow from £50 to £7500 over a maximum of 60 months.
  • Build up savings whilst repaying your loan over a maximum of 60 months.

Saver Loan Top-Up

Apply for £50  – £7500

  • If you already have a FAIRshare loan and would like to borrow more money, you may be eligible to apply for a FAIRshare Top Up Loan.

Family Support Loan

Borrow £500

  • A fair and manageable way to borrow £500, if you are claiming Child Benefit.
  • Builds a savings pot.
  • Borrow £500 over a maximum of 52 weeks.

Further Family Support Loans

 Two steps – £750 to £1000

  • FAIRshare has three different loan values which allow you to top up you initial family support loan in two manageable steps, after 12 weeks from the date of issue.

Secured Saver Loan

Borrow £1501 – £7500

  • Offers alternative to withdrawing your savings. 
  • It allows you to borrow a lump sum whilst keeping your savings intact.  
  • Borrow £1501 – £7500 over a maximum of 60 months.

Debt Consolidation Loan

Borrowing from  £1501 – £7500 

  • Merge your borrowing into one easy loan with a Debt Consolidation Loan.
> Benefits of Borrowing from FAIRshare
  • Affordable weekly, monthly, fortnightly or 4 weekly repayments, calculated for up to 5 years depending on the loan type and purpose.*
  • Interest is charged on the reducing balance of your loan, and not the original loan value.  This saves you money compared to many other lenders.
  • Flexibility – borrow between £50 and £7500 over different periods depending on affordability and your circumstances.**
  • Borrow for almost any purpose, including a Consolidation Loan to pay off existing debts.
  • No penalty or fees if you pay off your loan early.***
  • Fixed rate of interest, from only 4.9% (6.1% APR) per month, to a maximum of 3% per month (42.6% APR).
  • A FAIRshare loan can also help improve your credit rating.
  • Quick & easy – we aim to give you a decision within 24 hours from receipt of all supporting documentation.  If your application is approved, funds are transferred to your account within 24 hours of you signing your loan agreement

*Loans for annual events such as holidays, Christmas or car insurance will normally be repaid over a maximum of 12 months.  Please refer to FAIRshare for more information.
**Loans of higher amounts may be considered – the maximum that can be borrowed is £7500 above your savings value.

> Applying for a FAIRshare Loan
  1. Find which loan is most appropriate for you.
  2. Complete the online loan application form (or print the downloadable form).
  3. Provide supporting information for your Loan Application through our Open Banking platform. Our Loan Officer uses this supporting information to assess your application.
  4. We’ll contact you by email or telephone with a decision.
  5. If your application is approved, you will be sent all documentation electronically through our secure online signing platform called HelloSign.
  6. Set up loan repayments – by payroll saving, by benefit payment (paid direct to FAIRshare) or by standing order from your bank account.
  7. Funds will then be transferred to your bank account.

*If you are not yet a member, you must join FAIRshare before funds are released.

FAIRshare's Data Protection Statement

Important Information

Data Protection Statement
In accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we will use your personal details for the purposes of managing your accounts with FAIRshare Credit Union. Your personal details will be treated confidentially and will only be shared with other agencies for the purposes of credit referencing and debt recovery, for which purpose we hold a Category F Consumer Credit Licence.

We are committed to protecting our members’ privacy. Data may be processed outside the European Economic Area by a company which complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield and GDPR.

Credit Rating Agencies
In order to process your application, we will perform credit and identity checks on you with one or more credit reference agencies (“CRAs”). Where you take banking services from us we may also make periodic searches at CRAs to manage your account with us.

To do this, we will supply your personal information to CRAs and they will give us information about you. This will include information from your credit application and about your financial situation and financial history. CRAs will supply to us both public (including the electoral register) and shared credit, financial situation and financial history information and fraud prevention information.

We will use this information to:
• Assess your creditworthiness and whether you can afford to take the product;
• Verify the accuracy of the data you have provided to us;
• Prevent criminal activity, fraud and money laundering;
• Manage your account(s);
• Trace and recover debts; and
• Ensure any offers provided to you are appropriate to your circumstances.

We will continue to exchange information about you with CRAs while you have a relationship with us. We will also inform the CRAs about your settled accounts. If you borrow and do not repay in full and on time, CRAs will record the outstanding debt. This information may be supplied to other
organisations by CRAs.

When CRAs receive a search from us they will place a search footprint on your credit file that may be seen by other lenders.

If you are making a joint application, or tell us that you have a spouse or financial associate, we will
link your records together, so you should make sure you discuss this with them, and share with them this information, before lodging the application. CRAs will also link your records together and these links will remain on your and their files until such time as you or your partner successfully files for a disassociation with the CRAs to break that link.

The identities of the CRAs, and the ways in which they use and share personal information, are explained in more detail at:

• CallCredit
• Equifax
• Experian

Fraud Prevention Agencies
To prevent or detect fraud or to assist in verifying your identity we may make searches of group records and at Fraud Prevention Agencies who will supply us with information. We may also pass information to financial and other organisations involved in fraud prevention to protect ourselves and our customers from theft and fraud. If you give us false or inaccurate information, details will be passed to fraud protection agencies.

Debt Recovery
For the purposes of debt recovery, your details may be passed to a debt collection agency, the Department of Work and Pensions for consideration of deductions through the Eligible Loan Deduction Scheme and or recovery through the court.

Privacy Statement
We are committed to protecting our members’ privacy. We will only use your personal information to administer your account, to meet legal obligations or to enable us to perform our contract with you. To view our Privacy Notice and find out how will we use this information please click here.

All information given by you will be retained securely in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

FAIRshare is a not-for-profit community bank which has provided ethical financial services for over 27 years.

We’d love to hear from you.

Do you have a question about FAIRshare services? Our team is ready to answer all your questions.