Interest Free Loan Scheme to help 20,000 people

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 825 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A scheme offering interest-free loans to the financially vulnerable is being expanded to reach up to 20,000 people. After a successful trial at South Manchester Credit Union the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) will be rolled out across the UK from September. It's backed by the Treasury but will be run by credit unions and other lenders. The aim is to offer emergency loans to people who would normally be turned down because they can't afford the interest payments. We'll speak to Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen.

As a new survey, commissioned by the BBC, suggests half of people working are planning to increase their hours to boost their income and almost one in three people are thinking about taking a second job, we'll hear from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group about the implications for tax and benefits.

More on how thousands of people may be able to boost their state pension by paying extra National Insurance Contributions. Paying just one missing year can mean an extra £275 a year for your pension.

Plus, less than half the firms that sell funeral plans look set to be approved by the regulator when tough new rules begin in six weeks. More on how you can check yours.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Katie Barnfield Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 18th June, 2022)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.
0:07.0	It was an extraordinary news story.
0:09.0	The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,
0:14.0	mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.
0:18.0	One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for
0:21.7	Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is
0:27.8	the Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. Can you boost your pension by paying extra national insurance contributions a new website to help you find out?
0:47.2	Less than half the firms that sell funeral plans look set to be approved by the regulator when tough new rules begin in six weeks time.
0:56.3	And as the cost of living crisis bites, how easy is it to earn your way out of it?
1:02.5	But first, a project to give low-income households loans at zero interest.
1:08.2	The scheme will be piloted this autumn and it's expected to help thousands of
1:12.0	people. Eventually it may be rolled out across the UK. The first trial was by a credit union
1:18.0	in Manchester and Moneybox's Dan Whitworth has been looking into it. Well credit unions are a financial
1:24.3	cooperative pool owned by their members. They're fully regulated and they offer
1:28.2	lots of services that banks do, things like savings and loans. But because they're owned by members,
1:33.8	any profit stay within the union for the good of members, not shareholders. Now this new idea,
1:40.1	the no-interest loan scheme, is all about helping people get access to loans
1:44.4	who otherwise would probably be unlikely to get them.
1:47.6	And I've been to the place where it was tried for the first time.
1:52.2	On Burnage High Street,
1:54.1	alongside the vape lounge and opposite the barbers and the laundrette,
1:57.9	is South Manchester Credit Union.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.