OUR POLICY

NILS’ policy is to provide no-interest loans to people in acute financial need, which can include people on benefits and low incomes. Our policy is to assess client need sympathetically and non-judgmentally and to facilitate an improvement in peace of mind and sense of well-being by supporting clients practically at a difficult time.

Our policy is to purchase essential items on behalf of clients: we do not provide cash loans.

Essential items include:

• White goods such as cookers, fridges, freezers, washing machines and tumble driers
• Travel passes allowing access to further education, training or work
• Tools for required in order to be able to work
• Uniforms, laptop computers, school trips, accredited training courses for school children and/or adults to access further education and training to help secure employment.

We do not provide loans for leisure or personal items such as televisions or mobile phones.

To be eligible for consideration for a loan, a client must fulfil the following criteria:

• Proven ability to repay over a maximum 24 month period, barring a proven change in financial circumstances.
• The ability to pay a 10% deposit before the item/service is purchased on behalf of the client, whether this is a first time loan to a new client, or a new loan to an existing or previous client.
• Ability to repay the loan by standing order, with regular contact with the NILS team to monitor repayment progress.

It is our policy to offer loans only to those clients who approach NILS, meet the eligibility criteria and proactively engage in the process: NILS will not contact people who have made an initial approach but then fail to provide the necessary information in order to proceed.

It is our aim to help support people to take control of their financial situation and not to push them further into unmanageable debt. It is our policy, therefore, not to award loans to people with existing attachments to their benefits and/or who are in substantial debt.