Coronavirus / COVID-19
What we're doing
Our leadership team are closely monitoring the guidance provided by the UK Government, making key decisions which will enable us to continue to deliver ongoing service and support for our customers and a safe environment for our employees.
Customers:
Existing Customers:
- We understand that you may be concerned about how the coronavirus will affect you financially. Your financial wellbeing is our priority.
- If you are facing financial difficulties and would like to discuss your account, please contact us on 0203 1678 809
- Our teams are available to help, but we are receiving more calls than normal in these unprecedented times, so please email us instead of calling if your query isn't urgent at [email protected]
Borrowers
If you have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak or believe you may be in the future and are worried about making your loan repayment, please get in touch with us as there are a number of ways in which we can help. This may include offering a payment deferral or, if that is not the most appropriate solution, we could arrange for a reduction to your normal monthly commitment. If you can afford to make some repayments, even if it is a smaller amount than usual, then you should continue to do so.
To ensure you receive the most appropriate solution, we will assess your current situation and tailor the best solution for you This assessment will include how you are or could be impacted by coronavirus and how this has temporarily impacted the ability to repay your loan. As an example, if you’ve lost your job or you’re having to work less hours.
A payment deferral will give you the chance to pause repayments without it impacting your credit rating, but will mean it takes you longer to repay your loan. This won’t affect your credit file for the period of the payment freeze but lenders may take into account other information when making future lending decisions, including information provided by you or bank account information. However, interest will continue to build during this period, meaning you will pay higher costs in the longer term. Rest assured that we will not charge you any penalty interest or any fees for arranging a deferral.
During the deferral period, we’ll contact you about your options for making up the deferred repayments if appropriate at that time. The deferral is based on you resuming your contractual payments and is likely to mean we’ll extend the loan term. This will mean it will take you longer to repay your loan, but this doesn’t have any effect on your ability to make additional repayments to clear your loan quicker or settle your account early.
If you have already had a payment deferral of up to 3 months but you are still affected by coronavirus, we may be able to extend the deferral period. We’ll need to assess your situation to ensure the extended deferral is the right solution for you.
If you have already had a payment deferral of 6 months or more, then you will not be eligible for a further deferral but we will be still be able to support you with a range of alternative options that are designed to meet your circumstances. Similarly, if you have recommenced payments after an initial deferral period of 3 months then we will not offer you a further deferral but will work with you to find an alternative solution.
The extension will be granted on the same basis as the original payment deferral, so it won’t affect your credit rating but is likely to mean your loan term will be extended. Depending on your circumstances, it might be possible for us to arrange a period of reduced payments, if this is a better solution for you.
This won’t change the terms of your agreement with us, so we’ll still need to send you notices about the delayed repayments when we’re legally required to. You won’t need to do anything in response to these notices as long as you don’t miss any repayments outside of this deferral.
Guarantors
If the person that you are acting as guarantor for asks us for a payment deferral, then we will let you know. We will not ask you to make payments on behalf of the borrower for the period of deferment, though you are of course welcome to make a payment if you would rather not extend the term of the agreement. Depending on the appropriate solution for the borrower, you may find that you are liable to guarantee the loan agreement for a longer period if the term is extended or that the overall cost is higher in the long term.
New Customers:
- We are still accepting applications from new customers but we have made significant revisions to our lending criteria to reflect current circumstances.
- If your application is currently going through our underwriting process, we will continue to progress it. If you have any queries regarding your application, please contact us via email on [email protected]