Lewisham Plus Credit Union

Lewisham Plus Credit Union is a member-owned credit union that trades as Lewisham + Bromley Credit Union. It lends to people who live or work in the boroughs of Lewisham or Bromley, or in the SE19 postcode, and it takes savings from the same membership. You have to be a member before you can borrow, and most of what it does is built around that one relationship: members save, and those savings fund loans to other members¹.

Its lending is decided mainly on affordability rather than on a credit score alone. The credit union says each loan request is considered individually and that it mostly decides whether it can lend based on whether the repayments are affordable for the person asking, with all loans subject to credit status¹. Repayments are reported to credit reference agencies, so paying on time may help a member's credit score¹.

This page covers what it offers, how its loans are assessed, what happens if repayments are missed, how to complain, and how money held with it is protected. It does not carry rates or fees: those change, and the credit union publishes its current figures on its own site.

What Lewisham Plus Credit Union offers

The credit union's product range is loans, and everything else follows from membership. Its own description of what it does is a safe place to save and access to affordable loans, with members' savings used to fund lending to other members who qualify². That is the standard credit union model: a member-owned financial institution, not a bank with outside shareholders⁵.

Its loan information sets out the terms that apply across its lending. You must be a member of the credit union to borrow, and most members live or work in Lewisham or Bromley or hold an SE19 postcode¹. Loans are subject to credit status, and each request is assessed on affordability¹.

A loan from the credit union includes free life insurance up to certain limits, with cover running up to age 80 subject to policy limits¹. That cover is not underwritten by the credit union itself; it is arranged with an insurance provider, so the terms that matter are the policy's, not the credit union's. Where a credit union sells insurance it does not underwrite, the insurer named in the policy documents is the firm that pays a claim.

For the wider picture of how these firms work, how they are owned and what they can offer, see credit unions: a complete guide. For borrowing generally, including how lenders assess applications and what different types of loan cost, see loans: a complete guide.

How a loan application is assessed

The credit union's stated approach is affordability first. It says it mostly decides whether it can give you a loan based on whether it is affordable for you, and that each request is considered individually¹. That is a different starting point from a lender that scores an application against a fixed cut-off, and it is why two members with similar credit histories can get different answers.

Credit status still matters. All loans are subject to credit status, so a poor record can lead to a refusal or a smaller offer³. Repayments on all the credit union's loans are reported to credit reference agencies, which means paying on time may help improve a member's credit score, and missing payments can work against it¹. Credit reference agencies hold files that lenders use, and scores are calculated differently by each agency; TransUnion, for example, scores out of 999 points⁶.

Members may be asked for supporting documentation to back up a loan application, which is standard responsible-lending practice across the sector². If you are turned down, the reason is usually the affordability assessment rather than a single number on a credit file, and asking which part of the assessment failed is a reasonable question.

What happens if you fall behind

The credit union publishes what it counts as falling behind, and the definitions are worth knowing before you borrow. Your loan is in arrears if you miss one agreed repayment, and in default if you miss three or more repayments⁷. It writes to you if either happens, setting out the consequences of not making the payments you agreed⁷.

The first response is usually a conversation. The credit union says it can often agree an alternative repayment schedule if your circumstances change, and that it is committed to helping members find a way forward if they are struggling to meet repayments⁸. It also says it will work to support members in genuine financial difficulty⁸.

Where a member does not engage, the position hardens. The credit union says it can enforce transfer of savings, seek recovery of the loan through a debt recovery agency or bailiffs, or obtain a county court judgment⁷. It justifies that on the basis that it has a duty and legal right to recover money borrowed, because the money lent is the savings deposited by other members⁷. Allowing a loan to get into arrears or default may also limit future borrowing⁷.

Free, impartial help is available if repayments have become unmanageable. StepChange, the debt charity, and MoneyHelper both give free advice, and a debt adviser can look at the whole picture rather than one loan⁹. For the full range of options, including formal debt solutions and what each one does to your credit file, see debt: a complete guide to help, solutions and your rights.

How credit unions are run and regulated

Credit unions in Great Britain operate under the Credit Unions Act 1979, alongside the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000¹¹. The maximum interest a credit union may charge on a loan is set by order under the 1979 Act, which is why credit union borrowing is capped in a way that high-cost lenders are not¹².

The sector is small next to the banks. There are around 400 credit unions across England, Scotland and Wales, and more than 500 in Britain as a whole¹³. Official figures put adult membership at 2,111,957 in the first quarter of 2024, a 5.15% increase on the same quarter a year earlier, with loans to members at £2.54 billion, the highest level on record¹⁵. Across 2025, total income rose by 6.03% to £444.47 million and profit after taxation rose by 3.46% to £77.31 million¹⁶.

The model has a structural feature worth understanding: members' savings are what fund loans to other members². That is why a credit union's lending is tied to its membership, and why it can generally let members borrow more than they have saved once they have been a member for a certain length of time¹⁷. It is also why arrears matter to the whole membership and not just to the borrower.

How you are protected

Savings held with a credit union are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the same scheme that covers bank and building society deposits⁵. Protection is per person, per firm, so savings held under one licence count together towards a single limit rather than being protected separately for each brand. Lewisham Plus Credit Union Limited appears on the Bank of England list of UK credit unions, which is the list of firms the Prudential Regulation Authority authorises in this sector¹⁸.

On the lending side, the protection is different. A loan is not covered by the compensation scheme; what protects a borrower is the affordability assessment before the loan is made, the statutory cap on credit union interest, and the credit union's own published process for members in difficulty¹. The free life insurance attached to a loan covers the outstanding balance if the borrower dies during the term, up to age 80 and subject to policy limits, so it protects the member's estate rather than the member's income³.

If something goes wrong with the service rather than the money, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at a complaint once the credit union has had the chance to resolve it. The ombudsman is free to use and its decisions are binding on the firm. For how these protections fit together across financial services, see consumer protection in UK financial services: a complete guide.

Contacting Lewisham Plus Credit Union and complaining

The credit union's own complaints process is the first step. It publishes how to raise a complaint and what happens next, and it says that if you are unhappy with how a data protection complaint has been handled you have the right to escalate the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office¹⁹. Complaints that reach the end of the firm's process without a resolution can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

For anything to do with a loan that is becoming difficult, the credit union asks members to get in touch early rather than wait for a missed payment, and it says it will discuss money worries sympathetically, assess what you can repay, agree a repayment plan and a review date, and refer you to not-for-profit advice agencies where that is appropriate⁸. That referral route matters: an adviser at a charity such as StepChange can look at all your debts together, which the credit union cannot¹⁰.

Its website, www.pluscu.co.uk, carries the current contact details, opening arrangements and the figures for its products⁴. Rates, fees and loan limits are not reproduced here because they change; the credit union's own pages are the authoritative version.

Where it sits in the wider market

Credit unions are one of several places a UK borrower can go, and they behave differently from the others. A credit union is owned by its members and lends within a defined membership, usually a place of work or a geographic area, which is why Lewisham Plus Credit Union's area is Lewisham, Bromley and the SE19 postcode¹. Larger credit unions offer extra services such as Christmas savings accounts, budgeting accounts, current accounts and ISAs, though the features vary between firms⁵.

The sector's scale is modest. Credit union loan holders made up 1.1% of UK adults, or about 0.6 million people, in 2022, a change of 0.1% since 2020²⁰. That small share sits alongside a long history: the sector made over half a million loans in the four or five years to 2012, all in the £200 to £400 range²¹. Membership has grown since, with adult membership passing 1.8 million in 2018 and reaching 2,111,957 by the first quarter of 2024¹⁵.

For anyone outside the membership area, the practical step is to find the credit union that covers where you live or work. MoneyHelper lists credit union finders separately for England, Scotland and Wales, and for Northern Ireland, and more than 90% of the British population can join one because of where they live⁹. Public funding has been used to boost membership in Wales, including working with employers to offer payroll savings schemes²⁴.