The money we lend belongs to all the members of Tipperary Credit Union Limited. It is our responsibility to all members to ensure that we only lend members money to the members when it has been established that there is an ability to repay the loan. A borrower must be able to afford the loan repayments, including interest,over the full duration of a loan,therefore if income is not secure enough that may be a reason to refuse the loan. We need to ensure that we are lending responsibly and knowingly facilitate a member becoming over indebted. If a loan applicant does not have enough income to repay the loan, the loan will be refused. We will assess the circumstances and loan requirement in coming to a decision regarding repayment capacity.

Part of the loan assessment process is that we check ICB (Irish Credit Bureau) and the CCR (Central Credit Register) for an applicant’s previous loan repayment history. If the report shows a poor credit history; that an applicant has not been paying back other loans in the past, that is taken as a potential indicator of whether they will repay the loan to the Credit Union and the loan may be refused because the risk is too high and they will not pay back the loan to us.

In the case of a business or other personal loan,an assessment of the loan requirement, business plan, projections and business model is undertaken. A loan may be refused if the assessment concludes that the rationale for the loan or the business is not viable in the long term and therefore lending would be too risky.

When a loan is taken out, a credit agreement is signed. This legal document committing a member to repaying the loan with interest. If a members financial circumstances change & they can’t pay the original repayment installments, we can work out a new repayment plan.