# CU Loan prob



## Elliesausage (23 Mar 2012)

Hi there,

Just a few questions in relation to my cu loan. I'm new here and am delighted to have found this forum maybe someone can offer me some help and advice. I'll try and keep it short and simple..

-I took out a loan of €18,000 in May/June 2008. Repayments €374 a month
-From Oct 2008 i as unable to pay the loan
-2009- guarantor called into play- nothing she could do re payment. Her a/c frozen-no withdrawalls allowed
-May 2010 I'm in a position to pay, circumstances have changed. My father went to cu to negotiate on my behalf- i was not in a good place personally and not able for those kinds of meetings
-Agreement made €100 per week repayment. €5200 per year. -i signed nothing
-From May 2010 to present my loan has been paid under these new terms, never late, never a problem.

Now things have changed. I lost my job in Dec 2011. No reduandancy as wasn't working there long enough. Had a few €€€'s saved so managed to pay cu for Dec, Jan and Feb.

Last Oct I questioned the interest on my a/c as i found for every €100 i was paying €75 was interest.
I had a meeting with the CU manager and was told under no uncertain terms that i'm lucky they didn't take me to court, i signed an agreement at the agreed interest rate (9.6% i think) and there is a price to be paid for borrowing money that i am walking around with other members money in my pocket. That what i signed and agreed to was what they were firmly stiking to and there is no way they would budge on interest rate.

So now i am broke, still awaiting socilal welfare even if it does come through all i'll have is €188 a week. I am wondering if I should take the same approach as they did with me...I signed to pay €374 a month.I can no longer pay any more therfore will not and cannot pay any more then €374 a month. I can get some money from my boyfriend to supplememnt my income so i can pay the €374.

Also, last oct the cu manager point blank refused to move my €2056 shares into the loan a/c even though this was costing my €174 a year in interest to the loan while gaining pratically nothing in the share a/c. 

Any advice greatly appreciated.


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## Slim (23 Mar 2012)

Elliesausage said:


> Hi there,
> 
> Just a few questions in relation to my cu loan. I'm new here and am delighted to have found this forum maybe someone can offer me some help and advice. I'll try and keep it short and simple..
> 
> ...


 
The credit union will huff and puff and threaten etc, but they will be glad to get the €374 pm. If you keep paying that, they will not institute legal action. If you have missed a lot of payments, you will have a backlog of interest to clear before you start making a dent in the principal. You will not pay additional interest except as a consequence of not reducing the capital.

In the matter of your savings, you will see a thread on this topic here. Basically, you should write to the CU and ask/demand that your savings of €2,000 be set against the loan capital and arrears due. Good luck and don't worry too much.


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## Elliesausage (23 Mar 2012)

Slim said:


> The credit union will huff and puff and threaten etc, but they will be glad to get the €374 pm. If you keep paying that, they will not institute legal action. If you have missed a lot of payments, you will have a backlog of interest to clear before you start making a dent in the principal. You will not pay additional interest except as a consequence of not reducing the capital.
> 
> In the matter of your savings, you will see a thread on this topic here. Basically, you should write to the CU and ask/demand that your savings of €2,000 be set against the loan capital and arrears due. Good luck and don't worry too much.


 
Hi Slim,

Thanks for ur reply, when i began paying after a long period of arrears in May 2010 I gave them €1200 upfront to offset against backlog of interest.

I am going to arrange a meeting with them to discuss the €374 pm repayments, hopefully they wont huff and puff too much, the fact of the matter is no matter how much they huff and puff i cant afford to pay any more then that.

Have looked at the other thread re saving being offset against loan and will be writing to them to demand that this is done.

Thanks for your help.


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## Billo (23 Mar 2012)

What happened to the loan of 18k  ?

Is it all gone ?


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## Elliesausage (23 Mar 2012)

Billo...not that i think it is any of your business where the 18k went i will tell you.

It went to renovate a cottage from being a deralict, unuseable building to a home where i can now live.-rent free. Boyfriend bought the house- he put 50k into doing it up i provided 18k and now i live rent free in the house. We were both paying rent prior to that. I saw it as a good investment at the time...i was paying €320 a month rent 320*12=3840 a year, have been living here 3 years = 11520 and will continue to live in the house by 2013 it will have paid for itself and i will be living completely free of charge in a house..not many people can say they live without mortgage or rent to pay.


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## Billo (23 Mar 2012)

Strange reply there Ellie. 
But if i was a member of the Credit Union and members were taking out loans and not making repayments I would consider it my business to know where the money was going.


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## Elliesausage (23 Mar 2012)

Billo said:


> Strange reply there Ellie.
> But if i was a member of the Credit Union and members were taking out loans and not making repayments I would consider it my business to know where the money was going.


 
Billo,
The loan was taken out as a home imporvement loan as is a standard loan available from the Credit Union.
*The loan is being paid*, and has reduced significantly.

As for it being members business as to where the money went- it is the job of the Credit Union and its staff to authorise loans- _if you were a member _you would have to trust that they were doing their job properly and not giving money out to people to spend wreckessly.

_If you were a member y_ou would have no right to question other members as to where they spent the money they borrowed, regardless as to whether the loan was being repaid or not. 

Unfortunately such is life and nobody can ever guarantee that money loaned to members is spent in the way intended by the credit union, or as stated in a loan application form.


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## ontour (23 Mar 2012)

Ideally the credit union would have wanted you to stick to the terms of the loan.  That was not possible and there is no indication that you ever intended to renege on the loan.  It would also appear that you stayed in communication with the credit union.  They may huff and puff to keep the pressure on you to pay the loan but at the end of the day they will get their money back and will have received a lot more interest from you.

It is worth getting a statement to make sure that you are clear regarding the outstanding interest and principal amounts.

You are acting far more responsibly than lots of borrowers so there is no reason to let it stress you.  As you are well aware the sooner you get it paid off, the sooner the interest bills will be gone and you will be able to enjoy being debt free.


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## Elliesausage (23 Mar 2012)

Thanks Ontour...you are correct i have stayed in constant communication woth them, even ringing them on one occassion at 9.05am to inform them that my payment would be one day late- and to be honest i got a very snappy/bit**y response from the credit controller warning me not to let that happen again.

Thanks for the tip i will ask for a statement to make sure i've all my i's dotted and t's crossed.

Of course i am aware the sooner it gets paid off the better it will be, i might even manage to afford a night out at some stage in 2014!!!


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## CUJimmy (26 Mar 2012)

Ellie,

I would ask again to have at least some of your shares transferred to your loan balance which will reduce the weekly interest. i know some credit unions are a bit stroppy about this but it only makes sense. In general as long as you are keeping in touch with the credit union and making an effort on your payments they should be happy. best of luck


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## Bronte (21 Oct 2016)

Elliesausage said:


> Billo...not that i think it is any of your business where the 18k went i will tell you.
> 
> It went to renovate a cottage from being a deralict, unuseable building to a home where i can now live.-rent free. Boyfriend bought the house- he put 50k into doing it up i provided 18k and now i live rent free in the house. We were both paying rent prior to that. I saw it as a good investment at the time...i was paying €320 a month rent 320*12=3840 a year, have been living here 3 years = 11520 and will continue to live in the house by 2013 it will have paid for itself and i will be living completely free of charge in a house..not many people can say they live without mortgage or rent to pay.



Good to get background.


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