Moved to UK in jan, want to consolidate loans - possible?

briankelleher

I moved to the UK from Ireland in january (opened a natwest step account jan 6th). I currently have two credit cards and a loan that i am paying off in Ireland, total of around £10,000. I would like to get a loan in the UK to consolidate all three, and also to avoid having to send money back to ireland every month, which leaves me at the mercy of currency exchanges and is a huge inconvenience as i have to pay international transferr charges every time i want to send a little more than my standing order.

My question essentially is how long do i have to be resident here before a bank will give me a loan? I am 28 in full time employment.

jonesMUFCforever

By Ireland I take it you mean Eire - then you will find it difficult until you have been a resident for 3 years (unless you have a dual residency - ie Irish and a UK passport).

briankelleher

Eire - naturally. NI is part of the UK so it wouldn't be an issue. Thanks for the reply though, i'll have to keep paying as is.

euronorris

Brian, when you send the money, what currency are you sending it in?

I ask because I send money to the UK each month from NL, and whilst my NL bank wasn't charging me to send, the UK was charging to receive. And why? Because I had chosen for the funds to be sent in GBP! I discovered that by sending it in Euro's, I don't get charged and save €20.50 per month!

Quite how they worked out that a fee should be charged for receiving GBP into a GBP account I'll never know, but may be worth looking at for you also.

briankelleher

Oh wow, that's a pretty big charge! I use natwest to send euros to my bank at home, natwest charge me a tenner and they send it in euros - the amount i send in euros is the same as arrives in euros so i'm ok. A friend of mine however said you make big savings if you use a company like hi-fx because they use truer exchange rates, as opposed to using a crappy rate and creaming off the top. On comparison it's going to save me a few hundred a year.

euronorris

Interesting....*goes off to Google it*

euronorris

Some reviews from other expats:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=299704

euronorris

They seem too unrealiable, time wise, for me. I don't want to risk money arriving too late for the loan DD from my UK account.

briankelleher

That's interesting. The reason i mentioned Hifx was a friend of mine who works in finance in ireland suggested them as a consumer fx company off the top of her head. Will have to investigate the others suggested. Cheers for that norris!

dfh

immigration is a big issue

euronorris

And has nothing to do with this thread.