Unify Credit Union

Unify Credit Union is a member-owned credit union serving people who live or work around Wigan, Leigh and Chorley. It takes members' savings and makes loans to those members, and it runs school banks with local primary and secondary schools. Its named loan is the School Uniform Loan, aimed at spreading the cost of school clothing across the year rather than finding it all in one go.

Credit unions are not banks. They are owned by the people who save with them, and membership is restricted to people who share a "common bond", such as living, working, studying or volunteering in a certain area¹. Unify's common bond is the Wigan, Leigh and Chorley area, and the same rule means family members living at the same address can usually join too².

The practical points for anyone arriving here: you must be a member before you can borrow, savings are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and free life insurance normally covers the value of a loan so it is repaid if you die before clearing it².

What Unify Credit Union offers members

Unify is a savings and loans credit union. Members pay in savings, and the pool of those savings is what the credit union lends out to other members. Alongside the core savings and loan accounts, credit unions commonly offer a wider choice of products, including junior savings accounts, Christmas savings accounts, prepaid debit cards, insurance products, cash ISAs and in some cases mortgages⁶. Unify's own site sets out which of these it currently provides.

The wider credit union sector has been allowed to expand what it can do. Changes to the rules let credit unions in Great Britain offer a wider range of financial services, scale up by having more members, charge more interest on loans, accept corporate members, and invest surpluses in a wider range of products that may generate higher returns⁷. That matters to a member because it widens what a credit union can offer over time, though each individual credit union still decides what it will run.

The purpose behind all of it is straightforward. Credit unions aim to help members in need of financial support, and they provide access to fair and affordable credit for people with a poor credit history, including those who cannot access mainstream forms of credit or who do not know affordable providers exist⁸. If you have been refused a bank account because of a bad credit rating, opening an account with a credit union is one of the options worth asking about⁹.

For the wider picture of how these organisations work, see credit unions: a complete guide.

Loans from Unify, including the School Uniform Loan

Unify's lending is the reason many people join. Credit unions offer loan products suited to individual needs and at rates the member can afford, rather than a single headline product¹⁰. The credit union decides what to lend based on what you can repay, and it checks affordability against the money you have left after paying your bills².

Unify's named loan is the School Uniform Loan, aimed at spreading the cost of school clothing across the year rather than finding it all in one go. The credit union publishes the current terms on its own website, and that is where to check the figures that apply today.

Two features of credit union lending are worth knowing before you apply:

• Some credit unions will lend to you as soon as you become a member, while others will only lend after you have saved for a set period².
• You need to be a member to apply for a loan at all¹¹.

If you are comparing borrowing options more widely, loans: a complete guide sets out how personal loans work, and debt: a complete guide to help, solutions and your rights covers what to do if borrowing is already a problem. Consolidating debts is one route people consider, and it is worth knowing that with a poor credit rating you may only be able to get a consolidation loan at a high interest rate or secured against your home¹².

Who can join: the common bond around Wigan, Leigh and Chorley

Every credit union in the UK may only accept members who share a common bond⁷. The bond can be based on living, working, studying or volunteering in a certain area, working in the same industry or for certain employers, or belonging to the same trade union¹. Unify's bond is geographic, covering the Wigan, Leigh and Chorley area.

The bond is wider than it first looks. Anyone in the house of a person with a common bond with a credit union can usually join, and as long as one member of a family meets the common bond requirements and has joined, other family members living at the same address can usually join too². So a household where one person works in the area may be able to bring in others at the same address.

If you are outside the area, credit unions are organised region by region, with finders listed separately for England, Scotland and Wales, and for Northern Ireland¹. In Wales, for example, people outside a local credit union's area are pointed to Credit Union of Wales⁵. In Northern Ireland there are 92 credit unions represented by the Irish League of Credit Unions¹³.

Free life savings and loan insurance for adult members

One of the least known features of credit union borrowing is the insurance that comes with it. When you borrow from a credit union you normally get free life insurance to cover the value of the loan, so the loan is repaid if you die before paying it back in full². Most credit unions also offer free life or loan protection insurance².

The effect for a member is that a loan does not become a debt passed to the family. Because the cover is on the loan itself, the savings you hold with the credit union are not swallowed up to clear the balance. That is a meaningful difference from ordinary unsecured borrowing, where a debt usually forms part of an estate.

The cover is provided as part of the credit union's own arrangements rather than sold to you as a separate policy, and it applies to adult members. Ask Unify for the terms that apply to your loan when you take it out, including any age limit or maximum amount the cover applies to, because those details sit in the credit union's own documents rather than in the general rules.

How to apply for a loan and how long it takes

The route to a loan runs through membership. You join the credit union, save with it, and then apply to borrow. Some credit unions lend as soon as you become a member and others wait until you have saved for a set period, so the first question to ask Unify is which applies to you².

Once an application is in, the credit union assesses affordability against the money you have left after paying your bills². That is a different exercise from a bank's automated credit scoring, and it is one reason a credit union decision can take longer than a bank's. If documents are missing or need re-checking, the application waits.

If you are also claiming benefits, timing can matter. Universal Credit is paid once a month, directly into a claimant's bank, building society or credit union account, so a credit union account can receive it¹⁴. You need an account that can receive automatic payments to be paid benefits, and a credit union account can serve that purpose¹⁴. If you are waiting for a first Universal Credit payment, which takes around five weeks from making a claim, an advance is available and Universal Credit will give you a decision straight away when you apply for one¹⁶.

School banks: saving with Unify through primary and secondary schools

Unify runs school banks, which are savings schemes operated with local primary and secondary schools so that pupils can pay in small amounts regularly. The arrangement is between the credit union and the school, so a school that wants to take part contacts Unify directly to set up collections and accounts for its pupils.

For a child, the account is a savings account, and credit unions commonly run junior savings accounts alongside their adult accounts⁶. The habit of paying in a small amount each week is the point of the scheme, and the money belongs to the child.

Parents who want their child's school to have a bank should raise it with the school rather than with the credit union, because the school has to agree to run the scheme. If the school already has one, the credit union provides the paying-in arrangements and the accounts.

For the wider subject of saving for children, savings accounts: a complete guide and ISAs: a complete guide explain the account types and the tax rules that apply.

How Unify is regulated and how members' savings are protected

Credit unions are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority¹⁹. Unify appears on the FCA Register as authorised, with firm reference number 213321, authorised with effect from 2 July 2002, and with previous names including Platt Bridge (Wigan) Credit Union Limited⁴. It also appears on the Bank of England's list of credit unions incorporated in the UK²⁰.

Savings protection is the part that matters most to a member. Loans and savings are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme³. Unify states that all shares, meaning members' savings, in the credit union are eligible for protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme⁵. If the credit union failed and could not return members' money, the scheme is the route to compensation.

If something goes wrong with the service rather than the firm's finances, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at a complaint about a credit union, as it can for other financial firms. The consumer protection in UK financial services: a complete guide explains how that works, and financial regulation in the UK: who makes the rules and how changes affect you covers who sets the rules.

How to contact Unify and how to complain

Unify deals with its members directly. Contact details, opening hours and any online banking or app access are published on its own website, and that is the place to check the current routes, because they change. Have your membership number to hand when you get in touch.

If you want to complain, the usual order applies. Raise the complaint with the credit union first and give it the chance to put things right. If you are not satisfied with its final response, or it has not resolved the complaint within the period allowed, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use.

Two things help a complaint move: put it in writing so there is a record, and keep the dates. If your complaint is about a loan decision, the credit union can explain what it based the decision on, including the affordability assessment.