Fair Finance: personal loans for people with fewer borrowing options

Fair Finance is a direct lender offering personal loans to people who may have fewer borrowing options. New customers can apply for £400 to £1,000 over 6 to 12 months, and existing customers may be able to borrow up to £3,000 over a maximum of 18 months, subject to affordability and approval¹. It describes itself as a social enterprise and says it lends to those who are working or are on benefits¹.

The firm's own representative example is a £500 loan repayable over 12 months, with a total repayment of £929.40 and 12 monthly instalments of £74.95 each¹. It states that it does not charge for late repayments or for making early repayments¹. Decisions are stated as being made within 24 hours, with funds in your account within one working day¹.

Fair Finance appears on the Financial Conduct Authority Register under firm reference number 717247, with permission to enter into regulated credit agreements as lender, excluding high-cost short-term credit, bill of sale agreements and home collected credit agreements². That entry is the one to check before dealing with anyone using the name.

Fair Finance personal loans: what they offer

Fair Finance offers responsible personal loans for people who may have fewer borrowing options¹. That places it in the responsible finance sector, which provides fair and affordable credit for people and households, including people who may have limited options from mainstream lenders³. Fair4All Finance, which works in the same area, describes its mission as increasing the availability of affordable credit for people in vulnerable financial circumstances⁴.

The practical shape of the offer is a small, short loan. New customers can apply for £400 to £1,000 over 6 to 12 months, and existing customers may be able to borrow up to £3,000 over a maximum of 18 months, subject to affordability and approval¹. The firm states that it is a direct lender, so you apply to it and, if approved, borrow directly from it¹.

That direct-lender status matters when something goes wrong. A credit broker must be on the FCA's Financial Services Register, which means it is authorised and regulated by the FCA, but a broker arranges credit rather than providing it⁵. With a direct lender, the firm you complain to is the firm that lent to you. The loans guide sets out how the wider market works, including the difference between secured and unsecured borrowing and what each costs.

Fair Finance also offers a credit builder loan, which is a separate product from its standard personal loan⁶. The credit scores guide explains how repayment information feeds into a credit file and how long adverse entries stay there.

How loan amounts and terms work for new and existing customers

The amount you can borrow depends on whether you are already a customer. New customers can apply for £400 to £1,000 over 6 to 12 months¹. Existing customers may be able to borrow up to £3,000 over a maximum of 18 months, subject to affordability and approval¹. The firm states that repaying a loan will allow you to borrow more and that each loan will be cheaper⁶.

That progression is the core of the model: a first loan is small and short, and the record of repaying it opens the door to a larger one. It is worth being clear about what "cheaper" means in practice. A larger loan over a longer term can still cost more in total than a smaller one, because interest accrues over more months. The figure that matters is the total repayment, not the monthly instalment.

The wider market for consolidation borrowing shows why the terms matter. Official guidance notes that if you have a poor credit rating, you may only be able to get a loan at a high interest rate or secured against your home⁷. A short unsecured loan from a responsible lender avoids the second of those outcomes entirely, because nothing is secured against property.

Costs: the administration fee and interest

Fair Finance's representative example is a £500 loan repayable over 12 months, with a total repayment of £929.40 and 12 monthly instalments of £74.95 each¹. The gap between the amount borrowed and the total repayment is what the credit costs over the term, and it is made up of interest and any fee the firm applies. Fair Finance's own site carries the current figures for its products, including the rate that applies to your loan.

Administration fees are common across consumer credit, and it is worth knowing how they are usually structured so you can ask the right question. In the equity release market, for comparison, borrowers pay application, legal and other fees, and these can be high⁸. Adding a fee to the amount borrowed means you pay interest on it as well.

The same principle applies to any administration fee on a loan: a fee paid upfront costs you the fee, while a fee added to the balance costs the fee plus interest over the term. Ask which applies before signing. The loans guide explains how APR is calculated and why two loans with the same headline rate can cost different amounts.

No charges for paying late or repaying early

Fair Finance states plainly that it does not charge for late repayments or for making early repayments¹. Both halves of that matter, and they matter in different ways.

On early repayment: many credit agreements allow you to settle early but apply a charge or an interest adjustment. Where there is no early repayment charge, paying the balance off sooner reduces the total interest you pay, because interest accrues for fewer months. That is a straightforward saving, and it is one of the few levers a borrower fully controls.

On late repayment: no charge does not mean no consequence. Fair Finance states that any missed or even late payments will be reported to the credit reference agencies¹. A late payment marker on a credit file can affect what other lenders offer you, and it stays visible for years. The absence of a fee removes one cost, not the credit file effect.

The Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance on credit files and what lenders can record⁹. The credit scores guide explains how a missed payment is recorded and how long it affects applications.

Who can borrow from Fair Finance, including people on benefits

Fair Finance states that it lends to those who are working or are on benefits¹. It also states that it lends to customers with a poor credit history and to clients with no UK credit history⁶. That combination is unusual in the mainstream market, where a thin or damaged credit file often means rejection.

For anyone on benefits, it helps to know what else is available before borrowing commercially. Budgeting Loans are available to people on some benefits, and you can apply for a loan from the government¹⁰. They are for people who have been getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or Pension Credit for at least six months¹¹. You cannot get a Budgeting Loan if you or your partner currently claim Universal Credit¹². The amount depends on the number of people in your household, any money already owed to the Social Fund for previous loans, your ability to repay, and your savings¹³.

Other routes exist too. The Flexible Support Fund is available to anyone who receives help from the Jobcentre and is claiming a qualifying benefit¹⁴. In Wales, credit unions are promoted as an alternative to high-cost borrowing¹⁵. The benefits guide and the credit unions guide set out how these compare.

How Fair Finance assesses affordability

Fair Finance states that it considers your current income, essential living costs and existing financial commitments, rather than making a decision based on credit score alone¹. That is an affordability assessment, and it is now standard practice across lending.

The Financial Ombudsman Service explains the history: the Office of Fair Trading required lenders to complete a "borrower-focussed" assessment of affordability, in addition to a creditworthiness assessment, to see if the prospective borrower could have afforded to repay the lending in a sustainable manner¹⁶. Under FCA rules, a firm must assess whether the customer will be able to pay the sums due before entering into a regulated mortgage contract, and must not enter into the transaction unless it can demonstrate it is affordable¹². Credit unions always consider affordability when assessing loan applications¹⁵. It has become more common for lenders to make an affordability assessment, looking at your whole financial situation, when calculating how much they will lend you¹⁷.

The FCA's Consumer Duty adds a further layer. Fair value assessments are intended to ensure firms properly consider fair value in their decision-making about products and services offered to retail customers¹⁸. In practice, that means a lender has to be able to show that what it charges bears some relation to the value the customer gets.

For a borrower, the practical effect is that the application asks about income and outgoings, not just your credit score. Being accurate about both is what produces a decision that reflects your actual position.

Applying for a Fair Finance loan and getting the money

Fair Finance states a decision within 24 hours, and that you receive funds in your account within one working day¹. It also states that if you apply for a loan, it will carry out a hard credit check as part of its assessment⁶. A hard check leaves a mark on your credit file that other lenders can see.

The process in outline:

1. Apply directly to Fair Finance, since it is a direct lender rather than a broker¹.
2. The firm carries out a hard credit check and an affordability assessment covering income, essential living costs and existing commitments¹.
3. A decision is stated as being made within 24 hours¹.
4. Funds are stated as arriving in your account within one working day¹.

Before applying anywhere, it is worth checking your own credit file. The credit scores guide explains how to get it and what lenders see.

How Fair Finance loans affect your credit file

Fair Finance states that repayment information is shared with UK credit reference agencies to help with credit building, and that it reports this activity to the UK's main credit reference agencies, including Equifax and TransUnion¹. It also states that any missed or even late payments will be reported to the credit reference agencies¹.

So the same account can help or hurt your file, depending on how it is run. Repaying on time builds a record; a late payment adds a negative marker. The firm states that repaying a loan will allow you to borrow more and that each loan will be cheaper⁶.

There is a separate point about asking for help. The Financial Ombudsman Service states that discussing your options won't have any impact on your credit file, for example when you contact your lender about difficulty while up to date with payments¹⁹. If you have already missed payments, any help you receive will impact your credit file¹⁹. That distinction is worth knowing before you delay a call.

The ICO also sets out rules on how debts are recorded. If entries are recorded on your credit file in a way that may look like they are two different debts, or that could make the debt remain on your credit file for longer than six years from the date of the original default, it is unlikely that the Ombudsman would consider this to be fair⁹.

Experian's score bands give a rough sense of where a file sits. In the banding published in 2025, a "Fair" score runs from 562 to 720 on the old scale and 641 to 860 on the new one²⁰. The credit scores guide explains what moves a score and what does not.

Complaints and the Financial Ombudsman record

If something goes wrong with a loan, the first step is Fair Finance's own complaints process. If that does not resolve it, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at the complaint. The service is free and independent²¹. It follows rules set by the industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority²².

The Ombudsman publishes complaints data on financial products and services every quarter, and updates on business complaints data every six months²³. In the most recent quarterly data, covering Q1 2026/27, the total number of complaints opened was 53,553²⁵. For context, in April to June 2025 there were 7,800 complaints reported about current accounts²⁵.

For unaffordable lending complaints specifically, the Ombudsman sets out what it expects to see. The typical information it would normally expect about this type of complaint includes copies of any relevant correspondence or call recordings to and from the customer, a copy of the notice of assignment and the underlying credit agreement, a statement of account confirming the current balance outstanding and explaining any new charges or interest, a copy of the notice of sums in arrears and default notice if the account defaulted after assignment, evidence of a County Court Judgment if the debt concerns one, and evidence of raising the customer's dispute with the original creditor and their response where fraud or wrong-person is alleged²⁶.

There is a proposed change to how the Ombudsman handles complaints. Under consultation proposals, the FOS would be required to find that a firm's conduct is fair and reasonable where it has complied with relevant FCA rules, in accordance with the FCA's intent for those rules²⁷. The consultation also proposes introducing a requirement for the FOS and FCA to publish regular thematic reports providing useful information²⁸. These are proposals, not settled rules.

Scams using the Fair Finance name

Scammers use the names of real lenders. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme warns that scammers can use the name of a legitimate firm and sometimes the FSCS logo to try to get you to part with your money²⁹. It also warns that telephone numbers can be spoofed with fake caller ID, and that it has seen a rise in this sort of scam³⁰.

The clearest rule to hold on to is this: legitimate organisations will never ask you to pay fees in advance to release money, recover funds, or secure a loan³¹. If someone using the Fair Finance name asks for an upfront payment, it is a scam. Scammers also use adverts on social media and search engines to target people, and some impersonate authorised firms and the FCA³².

If you think you have been scammed, contact your bank immediately and report it to the police at Report Fraud³³. Keep any messages, emails and call records. You can check the genuine FCA Register entry for Fair Finance, firm reference number 717247, to confirm which contact details belong to the firm². The scams and fraud guide explains the common patterns and how to report them.

Where to get free help with debt

Free debt advice is available online or over the phone³⁴. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme names StepChange, Which? and Citizens Advice among the free sources of debt advice³⁵. Citizens Advice offers free advice on debt and other money problems⁵. You can get free advice from an approved money adviser at a registered charity²⁰.

There are many organisations offering free and independent advice to help you deal with your debt problems, and some financial advisers charge a fee⁷. If you are considering a debt management plan, get advice before setting up a plan with a provider, and free and independent advice is available from organisations like Advice NI. Debt advice services are free²⁰.

The debt guide sets out the full range of options, from breathing space to formal insolvency, and the benefits guide covers what you may be entitled to if your income has changed.

How money with Fair Finance is protected

Fair Finance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, appearing on the Register under firm reference number 717247². Its permission is to enter into regulated credit agreements as lender, excluding high-cost short-term credit, bill of sale agreements and home collected credit agreements². Its registered website is www.fairfinance.org.uk².

That regulatory status gives you access to the Financial Ombudsman Service if a complaint cannot be resolved with the firm. The service is free and independent²¹, and it follows rules set by the FCA²².

It is important to be clear about what this does not cover. Deposit protection, the scheme that covers money held in bank and savings accounts, does not apply to money lent to a consumer credit firm. Loans are not deposits, and a loan balance is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the way a current account balance is. The consumer protection guide explains which protections apply to which products, and the current accounts guide explains how deposit protection works for money you hold rather than money you borrow.