Frequently Asked Questions

The 1Plus1 Loans™ frequently asked questions. If you have a question and it is not answered on this page then please do not hesitate to ask. Simply email your question to ask@1plus1loans.co.uk and we will answer directly to you and add it to this page for everyone else to view.

You may think guarantor loans are a new concept, but they’re actually how banks may have loaned out money before credit scoring was introduced. In those days all you needed was someone who trusted you and was happy to guarantee your loan. That was often a family member or friend who owned their own property and was more financially stable, allowing them to help you get the loan you needed.

A guarantor loan isn’t secured against that guarantor’s property though. They are there purely as someone who has the financial resources to guarantee repayments, should you fail to do make them. Guarantors very rarely need step in, but it’s good for all of us to have that extra security.

A Guarantor is a friend or family member that will back up your loan if you fail to make repayments. So if they know you and they know you will pay back the loan, they may be happy to go as a Guarantor for you.

A guarantor is someone who knows and trusts you and is aware of you financial situation. For example you could approach members of your family and friends who might normally help you out financially on occasions, specifically;

  • Parents
  • Grandparents
  • Brothers / Sisters
  • Extended family members
  • Friends

You could also approach work colleagues or your employer. Do not forget it is best to explain why you need the money and confirm that you can afford the repayments. Make sure you explain to your guarantor their financial obligations should you fail to make a repayment.

  • You need to be 18+ years of age and no older than 70 when the loan completes if you are not a home owner you must be at least 21 years old.
  • Be a resident in the UK. Homeowner or a tenant (Tenant's must have an exceptional credit file, good enough to obtain a mortgage)
  • Have a UK bank account and a valid UK debit card
  • Have a good, clean credit history
  • Not be subject to a current Individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) or bankruptcy order
  • Be a UK resident (excludes Isle of Man and Channel Islands)
  • Ensure you can afford to make the repayments if the applicant fails to make a payment

The main risk is that if the borrower stops the loan re-payments, as we will then approach the Guarantor to bring the account up to date.

Becoming a Guarantor is a serious commitment, and he or she must feel confident that the borrower will make repayments on time. They should not become a Guarantor unless they are happy to repay the loan if the Borrower doesn't. Borrowers rarely let their Guarantors down, but if that did happen, there is always the possibility that it could affect relationships with the friend or family member who has guaranteed the loan.

First of all you want to help a friend or family member in more ways than one.

You may be in a position to lend the money to the borrower yourself, but you want to help them take responsibility to manage the loan themselves and make timely repayments to us, rather than to you.

You would want to help the Borrower to gain control of their finances, and if all goes well and they make repayments on time, this could help rebuild their credit score. Of course, there is a certain amount of risk to you by providing such a helping hand.

You may cancel the Agreement within 14 days of the date that we sign it, and any money lent to you must be repaid immediately . Please contact us immediately at info@1plus1loans.co.uk if you would like to cancel the Agreement.

Yes. All of our customers require a Guarantor to back up a loan with us. If your credit is bad or you have no credit at all then the chances are you will require a guarantor. We basically ask your friends and family (the people who trust and know you) if your good to repay the loan. So there is no need to judge you by your credit rating.

We may have rejected your Guarantor for a number of reasons. Before sending your Guarantors information please note that they

  1. Must be a resident in the UK
  2. Have a good credit rating
  3. Must not be older than 80 years when the loan completes.
  4. Most importantly know that they are agreeing to Guarantee the loan for you.

Don't waste your time or ours by providing a guarantor with a bad credit rating. The application will fail and you will be asked to provide another Guarantor only delaying your application. We can not make exceptions to these rules. Tenant guarantors must have at least 3 years electoral history, have a good income and a credit history showing they have made all payments on time with no defaults. We operate a 3 strikes rule on providing a guarantor, so if after providing 3 separate guarantors that fail, we will have to cancel your application.

No. We do not charge a fee to apply for a loan with us. If someone is telling you that you must pay £20 or an insurance premium upfront and they claim to be from our company DO NOT PAY THEM ANYTHING! They are scammers based overseas. Report them to ACTION FOR FRAUD immediately.

You will only be charged a broker fee if your loan was brokered with us by a third party. So if you came through another website and they passed your details to us then a brokerage fee may be applied. You can see the amount of broker fee applied in your contract before you sign.

You will be rejected if you are in an IVA (individual voluntary arrangement). We are very sorry but there is nothing else we can do regarding this.

We can not offer people a loan who are currently bankrupt.

You can pay back your loan in full at any time. We do not charge a penny to do so. You just need to clear the balance that is left on your account. Please call 0330 1200 313* and we can get your account paid up in full. You can do this by card or bank transfer.

You change your payment date up to 3 times in a 12 month period. You must also provide 14 days notice of a payment date change. Please call 0330 1200 313 to do this.

No. We are no longer accepting partner/spouse as a guarantor for customers.

YES. They can be your Guarantor. No problem as long as they have a good credit rating they will be approved.

No, although it does help speed up the process if you are. If you are not on the Electoral register then we will need to validate you in other ways which can make the process from application to pay out a little longer. Your guarantor will need to be on the electoral register.

If your are not happy with something, we would like to fix it. Give us a call and let us know about it. Also please check out our Making a complaint page for more information.

You need to login to your account. You will see a message asking you to add a new card at the top. Just follow the onscreen instructions and your new card will be added accordingly

If the borrower fails to make a monthly repayment we send you and the customer a text and email alert. This is to let you know what's going on as soon as we know about it. We will then attempt to contact the customer first to see what has gone wrong. If we fail to contact the customer we will try to take the payment from their debit card, if that fails we will then use the CPA to clear the arrears with your debit card. If both cards fail, a late payment fee may be added and a letter sent to the customer. As guarantor you will receive a copy.

Once you are aware of the customer not making a payment we would recommend you contact them to see what has happened and contact our team as soon as you can. If you are aware of the customer having issues you can log in and make a payment online to clear the arrears yourself before a late fee is added or the loan goes into default.

If the loan goes into default we will notify you and the customer allowing you 14 days to clear the arrears. On the 15th day of us sending you a default notice we will then use the CPA to clear the arrears with your debit card or enforce the guarantee provided.

Once payment has been received by card we notify you and the customer by email and text SMS.

You must contact the team as soon as possible. Please note that delayed or non-repayment of your account may have a negative impact on your ability to obtain credit facilities for, as example, mobile ‘phone or “sky” TV contracts. Assistance may be obtained from debt advisory charities, the details of which are available below. Payment can be made by: Direct Debit, Debit Card, BACS Transfer or Standing Order.

Step Change www.stepchange.org 0800 138 1111
National Debt Line www.nationaldebtline.org 0808 808 4000
Money Advice Service www.moneyhelper.org.uk 0300 500 5000

 

If you were charged a fee by a third party company, that would possibly have been a fee they charge for searching for lenders on your behalf. You will have to speak to that company directly as we do not charge a fee to apply and we cannot deduct fees from a loan you take with us.

Our e-mail is possibly marked as SPAM or JUNK or in either of those folders depending on your email client.
JUNK and SPAM folders disable links in e-mails by default to prevent malicious hackers placing viruses on your computer.
You will need to mark our e-mails "Not SPAM" or "Not JUNK" and/or move them to your inbox. Then the links to your contracts should work.
Make sure you mark our domain as a safe sender to receive any future important e-mails.

Duplicate payments made via debit card will be refunded within five working days (maximum) to the card used or account the funds came from. If we receive a request to refund a card after due payment dates we will retain the £5 administration fee. Any unallocated funds on your account can be refunded upon request or will be transferred to your account at the end of the loan term.

NO. We do not currently lend to residents in the Channel Islands. Sorry

NO. We do not sell or provide Payment Protection Insurance with our products, you might be able to obtain PPI from a specialist company, but not from us.

Step 1. Follow the link in your email to reset the password on your account.

reset password

 

Step 2. Log in with your username and your new password.

Login-image

 

Step 3. Enter your card details and press the add card button. This is a safe and secure method.

Adding a debit card

Once a loan has been approved for payout, we will transfer the funds to the guarantors bank account for them to pass to the customer.

The information we collect about you is used by us to assess your ability to act as a guarantor and indemnifier and, in the event of default by the Debtor, to make collections from you. It may also be used to send marketing to you, where you agree to this. We may share your information in certain limited circumstances described below

In relation to your obligations under this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement

  1. We may disclose a copy of this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement to the Debtor if requested at any time or in accordance with our obligations under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 or otherwise in accordance with our responsible lending policies.

  2. We may also disclose other information relating to this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement to the Debtor. This includes, but is not limited to, disclosing statements relating to any repayments you have or have not made on the Debtor's behalf, or any correspondence we have had with you in relation to your obligations under this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement. By entering this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement, you agree that we may do so.

  3. In considering whether to enter into this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement we may search your record at credit reference agencies. By entering this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement, you agree that we may do so. They may add details of our search and your request to be Guarantor of the Loan Agreement to their records about you. This will be seen by other organisations that make searches. Our search of records at credit reference agencies may be linked to your spouse/partner or other persons with whom you are linked financially. For the purposes of any application or this Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement you may be treated as financially linked and you will be assessed with reference to "associated records".

  4. We may also add to your records with the credit reference agencies details of your Guarantee and Indemnity Agreement(s) with us, if you are required to make any payments the payments you make, any default or failure to keepto its terms. These records will be shared with other organisations and may be used and searched by us, and them, in order to:

    1. consider applications for credit in the capacity as a borrower, to be a guarantor or indemnifier in the future, and other credit related services such as insurance for you and any associated person;

    2. prevent or detect money laundering and fraud;

    3. trace debtors or recover debts; and

    4. manage your accounts.

  5. It is important that you provide us with accurate information. We may check your details with fraud prevention agencies and if you provide false or inaccurate information or we suspect fraud, this information may be recorded. Fraud prevention agency records will be shared with other organisations to helpmake decisions on your creditworthiness, on motor, household, life and other insurance proposals, or claims for you and members of your household.

Sharing your information

  1. The information we hold on you may be disclosed by us when legally required to do so at the request of government authorities conducting an investigation; and we use it to verify and enforce compliance with the policies governing our website and applicable laws or to protect against misuse or unauthorised use of our website. We may share your information with our collections partners including tracing agents and debt collectors.

Marketing

  1. We, may use your information to inform you, by post, fax, telephone or other electronic means, about other products and services (including those of others) which we believe may be of interest to you unless you tell us not to. If you opt-in to receive third party marketing materials at the time of applying we may also pass your details to them.

  2. You may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by telephoning us on 0330 1200 313, by sending us an email to opt-out@1plus1loans.co.uk or by writing to us at the address provided above. You acknowledge that we may require a reasonable amount of time to process and action your request.

  3. If you opt-out of our use of your data for marketing purposes, we will honour such choice once we have had a reasonable opportunity to process your request. We reserve the right to take reasonable steps to authenticate your identity with respect to any such request or other enquiry.

Miscellaneous information

  1. Please write to us at our address stated above, or telephone us on 0330 1200 313 if you require details of the credit reference agencies or any other agencies from whom we obtain and to whom we pass on information about you. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have the right to receive a copy of the information we hold about you if you apply to us in writing. A small statutory fee will be payable.

  2. Your data remains on file for six years after our files with your information are closed, whether settled by you or the Debtor or in default.

  3. This is a condensed version of how we deal with your information. Further and fuller information is provided in our Privacy Policy, which is available on request or can be found on our website (www.1plus1loans.co.uk/privacy-policy) or by writing to us at our address stated above or by emailing us at info@1plus1loans.co.uk

How we are regulated

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, who are the supervisory authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 for credit businesses, with Firm Reference Number 717767. For more information please contact us.

If we have requested you to complete our Open Banking request, this is because we require more information to assess your affordability. We don't always require this but it is safe and secure and will enable us to pay out your loan quicker.

Due to the current Corona Virus outbreak, many people are experiencing difficulty at this time. If you have concerns regarding your next payment then please get in touch with our team who are on hand to assist. Please also see the FCA Webpage for more information on how firms are helping consumers.

We look at each customers situation on a individual basis and our team will do all they can to ensure you receive the best possible outcome. If you require assistance please call 0330 1200 313 or email info@1plus1loans.co.uk

If you are off work because of Corona Virus check out Money Helper Website where they have lots of guidance and help.

Further government announcements have confirmed that they are paying 80% of your wages if you are furloughed by your employer. A similar scheme has been setup for Self-employed people also. Keep up to date on the current government guidelines and regarding help with pay and rent etc.

If you are concerned further you can seek free and independent advice via Stepchange the debt charity.