excelent credit but still not offered best rate

Hooper

can anyone help? after using the site I applied for an unsecered loan with A & L who give a best rate of 5.7%. As i had already completed a credit check on myself & had a very high score, I was told in the litriture this would enable me to get any loan at the best rate offered. Although i have been accepted for the A&L loan they have offered me 6.9% and say there is nothing I can do & no one I can speak too, for any advice. As I've never had a loan before I don't know where to go next, although I can afford the extra this will cost it seems unfair that my high redit rating cant be verifed or explained. Any advice would be appreciated, they seem a law unto themselves!

Astaroth

Any form of credit scoring other than that done by the lender in question isnt worth the 2 minutes it takes to do. All lenders have their own systems and own scoring system which is why 1 person can be accepted by one company and at the same time be declined by another.

You should be able to contact A&L and ask them for the basis of their decision/ appeal against the decision but they are under no obligation to tell you.... banks spend a lot of time trying to work out what others strategies are in the same way insurers try to work out their competitors rating engines so giving out the details tends to be rare.

Emmzi

I think all you can do is apply elsewhere and see if they will better the rate?

Astaroth

Though remember applications leave "footprints" that most lenders see negatively as they dont know the outcome so dont know your current credit available.

ArchieB_2

I had a similar experience as an existing customer. I had their lowest APR on my existing loan and when I applied to extend the term they offered me the 6.9% even though we had more disposable income and were in a better position than when we applied originally 2 years ago.

I insisted on speaking to a team leader and explained the absurdity of it and they offered the lower rate (I asked if we didn't go ahead with the new loan, would they be increasing the APR on our existing loan as we were all of a sudden a higher risk!). She got the point.

Debt_Free_Chick

No-one is "entitled" to the best rate. It depends on the scoring system used by the lender. They all have their own system and most of them are a "secret" so you never know what gets a high score and what gets a low score.

I've heard it said that postcodes, jobs and number of children can result in different scores with different lenders ... and their ain't much you can do about any of those things!

What's the difference in what you pay? A loan for £5,000 over three years costs £57.61 if the rate is 6.9% or £47.58 if the rate is £5.7%.

Put details of your loan into What's The Cost? and see if the difference is worth spending the effort (and stress) over.