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Northern Rock - Loanprotect scam/hard sell advice
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Hi all,
First post on here, never really needed to after years of reading on here! Just basically warning people but I also have a quesiton about my credit rating...
Basically, I applied for a loan from Northern Rock this week, to help pay of a card I have with another company.
I was given a very hard sell on the phone even though I was saying NO to taking their loanprotect, the girl on the phone basically made out that I had to take the loanprotect option, or otherwise I'd need to get others to sign for the loan as a benificiary if I lost my job.
She proceeded through some outrageously personal questions and then finally said that my loan was accepted, after further reading away from the phone call, I see that these shocking pressure tactics are NR's way of making you sign up for Loanprotect, when you can really just turn round and say I don't need it (I did attempt to do this a number of times!).
I do still need the loan, but the disgraceful way of pressuring me into this has left a bitter taste in my mouth, so I don't want to take out the loan with them, but will it seriously affect my credit rating if I apply with another firm so soon?
First post on here, never really needed to after years of reading on here! Just basically warning people but I also have a quesiton about my credit rating...
Basically, I applied for a loan from Northern Rock this week, to help pay of a card I have with another company.
I was given a very hard sell on the phone even though I was saying NO to taking their loanprotect, the girl on the phone basically made out that I had to take the loanprotect option, or otherwise I'd need to get others to sign for the loan as a benificiary if I lost my job.
She proceeded through some outrageously personal questions and then finally said that my loan was accepted, after further reading away from the phone call, I see that these shocking pressure tactics are NR's way of making you sign up for Loanprotect, when you can really just turn round and say I don't need it (I did attempt to do this a number of times!).
I do still need the loan, but the disgraceful way of pressuring me into this has left a bitter taste in my mouth, so I don't want to take out the loan with them, but will it seriously affect my credit rating if I apply with another firm so soon?
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Comments
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do you really want to do business with a company like this? not sure if it will affect your credit rating, but vote with your feet. its people like us on this site who can stop these scams!0
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I too agreed a loan the other day with NR, and was pressured into the loanprotect (the bronze). Once papers had arrived and i had time to think, I rang back as I have never had insurance before and felt i didnt need now....even my previous NR loan didnt have.....they took it off and sent papers without......I even told them that for the price of the bronze life cover only, I could get accident, redundancy and life cover with a separate company.....still have one of the best loan rates though
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Banks can borrow money to lend at 5% - NR, Moneyback bank lend it at 5.5-6% but over 1% of customers go bad each year - a loss making business.
The only way these loan companies make money is by selling overpriced insurance.
You can buy the same cover direct from an insurance broker for about 20% of the premium.
I reckon loan companies make 10 x as much profit on a loan with insurance than one without and they reward their sales staff accordingly - in fact there is some evidence that sales staff who do not sell a certain % of loans with insurance get the sack.
This is wrong, the office of fair trading is not doing anything about it but you do have the cooling off period when you can cancel the insurance.
Whatever you are told they cannot force you to take the insurance. My line is that I already have the same cover much cheaper elsewhere. They can't argue with that.
R.Smile, it makes people wonder what you have been up to.0 -
I applied for a loan with Northern Rock online, when the paperwork came through it was with Loan Protect - even though I'm pretty sure I unticked the box. When I rang, the bod I spoke to was insistent that I take this out, even though I told her I didn't want it. When asked how I would repay it if I lost my job, I told her that it was such a small amount that it wasn't worth worrying about. Untrue of course, but it shut her up.0
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Like you i too phoned uo Northern rock, with the intention of getting a loan off them due to their low rate of 5.6%. I was given the hard sell about the loan protect, the reasons given by them were that i was the only wage earner and have two small children. After about 20 mins of debating i relented and told them to just sent the paperwork out.
When i looked closely at the figures, the overall total would be £1600.00 greater because of the loan protect. I don't need the money that badly. Due to this i decided against taking out the loan. A week later i was called by northern rock to ask why i had'nt sent back the forms, after explaining my reasons the chap on the other end said he would see what he could do, And as if by magic he could offer me the loan without the loanprotect as i did actually qualify for it.
Just goes to show that they are only after that extra commission.0 -
Isn't there a 30 day cool-off period? Can't you just say yes to PPI to get the best rate loan and then cancel in writing straight away?
They can't do anything about that, can they?
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I got the hard sell too for my car loan. I told them I didn't need it but but no they carried on regardless. In the end I told them I could arrange cover myself cheaper which rather took the wind from their sails. I did wonder if they would grant the loan with me refusing cover but they did.
It didn't stop them trying again when they sent the loan agreement in the post though! At that point I decided I really didn't want to deal with them and went elsewhere...0 -
My OH applied for a NR loan earlier this week, and received the same ultra-hard sell for insurance, and lots of personal questions. In the end we decided to go for a Sainsbury's loan instead - it has a slightly higher rate at 6.1%, but seems so much more hassle-free. I had a bad feeling about NR, and now after reading some of the threads on this board (which I've only just discovered - it's great!), I think we had a lucky escape! 0
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