Key Takeaways
- The Jingle Bills Loan is $1,200 for 12 months at 15.25% APR, with a $35 administrative fee.
- Applications open September 15, 2026. The first loan appointments begin October 1, 2026.
- No credit check is required, but there are membership, employment, and direct deposit requirements you must meet.
- Monthly payment works out to about $108, for a total cost of roughly $136 in interest and fees over the full year.
- Membership must be at least 45 days old, with a qualifying direct deposit already established.
Gifts, travel, the food, the hosting, the thousand small things that add up between Thanksgiving and New Year’s all land at once, and on top of every bill you were already paying. For a lot of households, that squeeze is a predictable financial stress each year. It’s best to plan the holidays into your budget, but if you do need a loan, it’s Jingle Bills time.
The Jingle Bills Loan is a small, fixed, one-year loan built for exactly this season, and it opens for applications on September 15.
What You Actually Get
The basics of the terms are simple:
- $1,200 borrowed
- 12 months to repay
- 15.25% APR, fixed
- $35 administrative fee
- No credit check required
Let’s put real numbers to that, because a rate on its own doesn’t tell you much. At 15.25% over twelve months, your payment lands right around $108 a month. Across the full year, you’d pay about $101 in interest, plus the $35 fee, for a total cost of roughly $136 to borrow $1,200.
One payment a month, the same amount every time, done in a year.
Who Qualifies
There are requirements, but a credit check is not one of them. Because this loan is built on your relationship with the credit union rather than a credit score, the qualifications center on your account history:
- Your savings account must be open at least 45 days before the loan
- You must have been at your current job for at least one year, with direct deposit to Latitude 32 of at least $60 biweekly or $30 weekly
- If you’re retired, you must be receiving a social security or retirement direct deposit of at least $120
- New members must have received the minimum direct deposit at least twice before the loan
- You must be in good standing: no negative balances, no unpaid or past due loans
- You cannot have caused a loss to the credit union in the past
The prequalification form on the Jingle Bills Loan page walks through them in about a minute, with no impact on your credit.
Important Dates
Here’s the timeline:
- September 15, 2026 — applications open
- October 1, 2026 — first loan appointments begin
Applying early is worth it. Appointments fill up as the season gets closer, and the earlier your loan is finalized, the more of your holiday shopping you can actually do with it.
How It Works
Three steps, start to finish:
- Prequalify. See how much you may qualify for with no impact on your credit.
- Apply. A simple application. No credit impact here either.
- Schedule a time for your loan meeting that works for you where we can finalize everything.
Is This the Right Move for You?
It’s typically best to budget for predictable expenses of this kind, so even if you aren’t ready to do that this year, we’d recommend you make a plan for next year.
If this is the right move for you, then a fixed-payment loan like this makes sense when you know roughly what the holidays will cost you, you want that holiday spending capped at a set number rather than open-ended, and you want a hard finish line for when the loan is done.
It’s worh comparing against a credit card, though. If you have room on the Latitude 32 Visa at 12.90% fixed and you’d pay the balance down on a similar timeline, the card would run you a little less; about $85 in interest with no administrative fee. The catch is that a card doesn’t hold you to anything. Cards only cost less if you actually pay them down the way you planned to, and paying only the minimum on a credit card is one of the most expensive habits in personal finance. The loan builds the discipline in for you.
A Word on Holiday Season Scams
One last thing, since this is the season for it. If you do take out a Jingle Bills Loan, and that money is going to get spent online, you should know that the holiday shopping weeks are a significant season for scams. Before you buy from a store you don’t recognize, it’s worth knowing how to tell if an online store is legitimate and what red flags mean a deal is too good to be true. Checko ur Fraud Prevention & Cybersecurity Resource Center for more information on scams.
Looking to Apply?
Applications for the 2026 Jingle Bills Loan open September 15. You can prequalify now on the Jingle Bills Loan page, give us a call at (843) 556-4809, or stop by our branch at 1845 Sam Rittenberg Blvd in Charleston.