I have gotten myself into a little bit of a pickle with credit card debts, and I don’t want to keep transferring the balances as I don’t think my credit rating is all that great as it is, and don’t want to damage it any further.

I have been thinking about getting a personal loan to pay off my cards, cut my cards up and get back on my feet. Whilst visiting www.moneysavingexpert.com I came across a section on Credit Unions.

I visited the link of my local credit union, and it seems too good to be true – they offer a rate of 9.9% to everyone, regardless of personal circumstances/amount borrowed and credit rating.

I realise I have to join, and pay an amount to a savings account with them each month, but they also stipulate that you can pay as little as £1 per month.

What’s the catch? It seems like the perfect solution.

I think the loans may be based on affordability, which I hope there shouldn’t be any problem with. I still live at home, and manage to make regular payments each month to cover all my cards/car insurance/phone bills etc. The loan repayment would work out cheaper than what I am having to pay monthly as it is.

After extensive research, for a friend and me, I found out that Credit Unions are the best places to obtain a credit card, and loans. I live in Houston, Texas and found many options for a credit union so I don’t know which one to choose in terms of getting a good credit card with fraud protection and all that kind of stuff that a credit card from a bank like Chase have, a saving and checking accounts with no or < fees on each, and good range on loans.

I know the website that tells me which credit unions they offer here in houston, but I am more interested in personal experience with them and how did they work for you in both short and long terms. Most of the stuff I read has been only to praise each union, but which business doesn’t do that, so I want to know the good and bad of the union yourself have joined and which ones you recommend.

I’m looking to open a cafe and have started putting together all of the details. I need more information, like where to find and how to compare rates on food distributors, advertising, business startup loans, etc. Keep in mind I have NO credit and for whatever reason can not GET a line of secured credit through anyone, banks, credit unions, online cards. I’m a "foodie" so I would like to find quality products and am perfectly creative in the marketing department, if only I knew what methods of advertising have been proven successful for others.

I have recently moved to Sydney Australia, and as with any decent city these days the prospect of getting enough money together to buy a property here is sadly moving further away despite saving up what we thought to be a good deposit. Does anyone know of any alternative ways of getting cash/loans/help/investment other than banks or credit unions? Maybe you know of churches or other benevolant organisations that are able to give a young, hard working family a hand up. We have considered getting a place in need of moderate renovation or improvement in order to get a cheaper place, as we just desperately want to get on the property ladder – do you know where we can get help and advice so as to see all our options?
We are a mum and dad and baby with a modest single income, working our way towards a respectable deposit and don’t really want to blow a large proportion of this on real estate agents fees and the like if we can help it.