Car too expensive? Bank offers loans for bikes

Unitus works with local shops, frame builders to offer bike loan

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Sep 23, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Natalie Ramsland, owner of Sweetpea Bicycles, works on a bike frame at her Southeast Portland shop.

Ellen Spitaleri / Clackamas Review

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Plenty of Oregonians take out a loan to buy a car. But what if you spend more time in a bike seat than behind the wheel?

One local bank has an answer.

Unitus Community Credit Union recently started issuing bike loans for bicycles ranging from simple commuters to custom-made cycles.

Laurie Kresl, vice president of planning and business development at Unitus, said the idea was hatched after collaboration with the Portland-based Bicycle Transportation Alliance.

“Angela Koch from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance inquired about the idea during a meeting with Unitus. At the time, there was not another financial institution who had adopted this product for the cycling community. Through several months of research, Unitus recognized a real need within our community to create the first-ever bicycle loan,” she explained. “The Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Sellwood Cycle Repair, Seven Corners Cycles and Sweetpea Bicycles were all resources in developing the concept for this program. Unitus has partnered with them, because of their passion for the program and knowledge of the community’s needs.”

To qualify for the bicycle loan program, one must be a member of Unitus and live or work within Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Polk, Marion or Clark counties. Since Unitus is a not-for-profit financial cooperative, a $5 deposit into a prime share account is all it takes to become a member, Kresl noted.

She added, “Depending on the need of the member, this program can provide a family the opportunity to purchase their child a first bicycle, allow mom and dad to get a set of mountain bikes, help students purchase a quality bicycle they can commute to school with every day or the avid cyclist to purchase the custom-built bicycle they’ve been dreaming about. This program can help members to begin building credit if they don’t currently have credit history.”

Clackamas resident first to apply for loan

Clackamas County resident Heather Andrews rides 12 miles every day to her job with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in downtown Portland. She decided to take advantage of the new bike loan program, because her bike is not the most comfortable to ride, and she had always dreamed of having a custom-built bike from local bicycle builder Natalie Ramsland of Sweetpea Bicycles.

“Since I was already a member of Unitus, all I really had to do was go to the Web site and do the Web application online once the Web site went live. It only took about 10 minutes, and I was instantly approved for $2,500, which is the maximum loan amount, at 7.99 percent, which is the lowest interest rate, and I’ll have a year to pay it off.”

She added, “If I hadn’t gone with a custom-built bike that will cost more than the loan amount, I could also have used the loan at a shop to buy a bike with accessories such as a lock, panniers, lights, etc. And Unitus is constantly trying to expand the network of shops they’re in cahoots with, so if you wanted a bike from a shop that hadn’t heard of the program, they’re very open to establishing that relationship.

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