Being a guarantor basically means that you promise to make the loan repayments if the borrower doesn't pay.
Guarantor loans aren't a new concept, it's how banks used to lend before computer credit scoring took over. It's quite common for mortgage companies to still ask for guarantors today.
We believe asking for a guarantor is the best way to lend as your family and friends know you better than a computer ever could. If you trust someone enough to guarantee their loan, then that's good enough for us.
Three main reasons...
1. You'd lend the money to the borrower yourself but you want them to manage the loan themselves and make repayments to us rather than to you.
2. You can't lend the borrower the money yourself.
3. You want to help the borrower build up a good credit score for themselves and put them in control of their finances.
Just enter your “LendingMate” link above and complete the online registration.
Once we've received your signed agreement we'll check your details and call you for a quick conversation where we'll:
Loans are paid out into the guarantor's bank account. This is to prevent fraud and give you the option of changing your mind before you transfer the money to the borrower.
If a payment is missed we'll inform you within 24 hours by text and email. We'll always attempt to collect the payment from the borrower by Direct Debit and then by card.
If we aren't able to take payment from the borrower by these methods, we will contact you both as soon as we know. We'll always try to collect from the borrower first, but if we can't resolve it with them, we'll contact you to tell you, and then will collect the payment from you.
We will look at your credit file to make sure that you are financially stable and haven't had trouble paying back your bills in the past. This will not affect your credit score held with the credit reference agencies. Anyone searching your credit file wouldn't be able to see if you're a guarantor on a LendingMate loan, or even that you're linked to the borrower.
The one time you could find your credit file and score affected is if both you and the borrower refuse to pay and we are forced to take court action, where the court judges that you must pay and you still refuse. In these circumstances, after 28 days the court will record the judgement on your file.
We write back details of the loan to the borrower's credit file with major credit reference agencies. If paid on time this will help them to build their credit score and eventually they'll be able to borrow from other lenders.