The Nils interest-free loan program, which is funded by the Treasury but administered by credit unions and other lending institutions, has been successfully tested in Manchester and will be implemented in other parts of the UK from September. Its purpose is to offer emergency loans to those who would otherwise be rejected because they could not afford the interest payments. “We fund items ranging from basic household items and school uniforms to laptops for access to education and training and tools and equipment to help people get back to work,” Nils said on her website. The pilot project will be extended from existing locations in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire from September to other parts of the country for a period of two years, with a decision to be made after this point on whether to expand further. Customers are only allowed to have one loan with the program, which can be from six to 18 months, although the average duration is 12 months. Borrowers can access between £ 100 and 000 2,000, with an average loan amount of £ 500. The pilot is funded with 3, 3.8 million by the Treasury, 2 1.2 million by JP Morgan Chase and up to 1 1 million in lending capital from each of the decentralized departments, corresponding to England in Fair4All Finance. Fair4All Finance, which partly manages the program, was established by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports three years ago to “support the financial well-being of people in vulnerable conditions”. Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk Treasury Secretary John Glenn last month voiced hope that a full-scale program could finally be developed. He told the British Credit Union that Nils “is a fundamental, worthwhile new initiative to provide a gateway product for people who are currently beyond the creditworthiness of some credit unions”. He said: “The challenge now will be to transfer this proof-of-concept pilot to a larger pilot so that we can now validate it.”
