Credit Union Partnership Awarded Fairlife Mark for their Just Borrow Loans

Wednesday 17 January 2024

An innovative short-term loan product known as Just Borrow, delivered collectively by a partnership of credit unions as an alternative to high-cost payday loans has just been awarded the FairLife Mark.

The FairLife Mark represents a new fair-trading initiative for the finance industry and recognises ethical savings and loan products that are priced and delivered fairly – thus helping customers to find products they can trust.

Gareth Evans representing the Just Borrow partnership says: “We are really excited that our partnership has been awarded the FairLife mark as recognition of our efforts to transform short-term borrowing. By collectively promoting our universal product rather than the multitude of offerings, credit unions can gain greater visibility and greater economies of scale to attract new borrowers.”

Only launched 12 months ago, Just Borrow already has 12 credit unions in its partnership which collectively  cover almost 31% of the UK population. The website enables people to apply for loans of between £100 and £750 via a single shared website and  participating credit unions have  lent over £250,000 in short-term loans since then.

“We wanted the sector to be able match the speed, efficiency and user-friendliness that people now expect but in a fair and affordable way so that we can divert people away from the high-cost online lenders and into the safety of our credit unions,” explains Lakshman Chandrasekera, CEO of London Mutual Credit Union that originally developed the lending technology.

“The FairLife Charity awards the FairLife Mark to companies that price honestly and trade fairly with their customers. The Mark’s standards are about being fair to the customer and importantly about following the spirit not just the letter of the law. We are thrilled to have Just Borrow and its partnership of credit unions display the FairLife mark and would encourage other credit unions to get involved,” encourages Stuart Phillips of the FairLIfe Charity.