Student looking to take out a loan of 2-3k, advice please!

hebangsthedrums

Hi there I have read several of Martin's articles and am looking into applying for a loan as I am pretty much stuck for finances. What i would like to know is peoples suggestions for somewhere where I can get accepted as I am well aware that failed applications will wreck my credit score. I have been on moneysupermarkets site and used the advanced search and it gives me a 'fair' rating. However I know these boards are a fountain of knowledge so I wanted a touch of advice here before I did anything concrete

My situation is:
I am a student gong into my 3rd and final year
My only outogings are my rent which is 270 (bill inclusive) a month plus food which (thanks in part to tesco r&r) is about £17 a week.
I just started temping as my course finished last Friday i worked yesterday and definetly monday but aside from those days the company which is on my uni campus is not sure how much more they will need me, but i will be paid for this work 28th of this and any subsequent month
I have applied for other jobs and have several interviews next feew days so I will have an income of some sort within a few weeks.

I have 2 students accounts 1 with smile and one with hsbc, both are unfortunately maxed out and smile will not extend my od temporarily and i already have a 250 ext with hsbc which expires end of july.

my predicament is that i have rent sure the 23rd of this month. unfortunately my parents cannot loan me and i am loathe to ask friends.

what i am looking for is a some that will cover my shortfall in the immediate and givce me a buffer next year and then when i am working full time (i already have a job sorted for when i leave uni) i can cover the repayments easily. my worry is that i am going to be reallly stuck this summer. i know a loan isnt the ideal option but i think im pretty much stuck othrwise. ive applied for a hardship grant and was rejected as apparently my uni has spent all its allocated money

Any advice is very much appreciated and if any other info is needed please do ask.

Thanks

lynzpower

Could you get a DSS crisis loan as its only for a few weeks?

hebangsthedrums

thanks for the reply, sorry im not sur ewhat the dss crisis loan is. If you mean the student hardship fund I applied for that (as per robhammond's helpful thread on the student board) but they have spent the fund already.

Money supermarket points me toward cahoot but I wanted t be certain I would be accepted before I apply.

Any other comments guys?

lynzpower

NO is a loan from the"dole office" have a read here http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/crisis_loans.asp

I cant see any reason on there why you wouldnt be entitled.

You can only ask.

And its interest free. Makes much more sense than getting into deep water over something you probably wont be able to pay back...
HTH

hebangsthedrums

Ok I have had a look anbd as you say it is worth a try, thanks for the link. I will apply on Monday, in the meantime I have read up more on the cahoot flexible loan and this seems a good bet if I could get accepted. As aforementioned I have just started a job so would it be best to put this down in any application (even though I have only been there 2 days and will only be there another couple of weeks or so before i get another role) or should I put my status as a student?

Thanks

hebangsthedrums

sorry another question, as part of the equifax scoring onn moneysupermarket it asks if:

Have you ever defaulted on a credit account?
(E.g. personal loan, credit card, overdraft etc...)

Have you ever missed a payment on a credit account?
(E.g. personal loan, credit card, overdraft etc

What exactly do these mean?

Thje only thing ive done is gone into my od unauthorised once - doe shtis mean i defaulted on this account?

thanks

lynzpower

the answers no to those ?s

It means not paynig for ages, and Debt collector time.

hebangsthedrums

I have now tried to apply with cahoot but when I reached the stage of picking what products I wanted I clicked loans and it says I was unable to apply at this time. PLease can anyone advise on any companies that are likely to accept me I realise I amy have to pay a high APR but I am resigned to that.

Thanks in advance

Revex

I am a student and got a £2k loan for a car from egg.

They give you a bit of a grilling on the phone, but they had no problem then accepting me at 12% apr, which was reasonable. My main bank would have done it at 19.9% lol.

Id say give egg a go as you personally speak to someone who will make the decision. Not some computer that tells them what to say. Thts what it seemed like anyway.

And once you have the inital loan taking payment breaks and increasing your loan is not a problem.

Good luck in your search!

lynzpower

Avoid the cahoot loan unless you want arbitary increases in your APR whenever it suits them

Im investigating this product at the moment, and my OH has had his go from 5.8 to 11.2 in a few months.

If you are short of 270 then get a short loan from someone else. your mates, the DSS anywhere. Getting into one of these flexi loans is really not a great idea when you dont really have an income.

Surely you will get your student loans next year? Or have you tried your uni harship fund?