Best lender for unsecured loan with mediocre credit rating

macca5000

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster.

I'm looking to take out a £10,000 5 year loan to consolidate some existing debt I have in overdrafts and credit cards.

Unfortunately my credit rating might not be top notch as over the last year I've gone through a divorce and a house move and so I've missed a couple of payments.

Can anyone recommend a lender who would be likely to offer me a loan without a ridiculous interest rate?

Thanks in advance

stephane_2

What is your current level of debt? What is your annual income?

industryinsider2

Hi Macca,

£10k will probably be quite tough to get hold of with a mediocre history. [Zopa . com] are a popular recommendation on this forum but try using a search site like [moneysupermarket . com] or [loanpages . com].

Bottom line though is that if your bank wont lend you the money then you're not going to get a great deal. Even then, you'd be lucky to beat your credit card and overdraft interest rates. Just make sure you stay on top of your repayments and pay more than your minimum each month so that you're clearing some of the balance - be disciplined, don't over spend and learn to be tight fisted when faced with spending decisions.

Hope you have a good Christmas and best of luck with your financial situation.

macca5000

All told it's £9.5k on 4 credit cards and 1 overdraft.

My salary is just over £20k. 2 of the cards are interest free till next year. I'm not struggling with the repayments as such, it's just the balances will take forever to clear at the current rate of repayment. Everytime I come to the end of an interest free period on a card I shift to another, but that incurs charges.

I'd much prefer to pay them all off and have one monthly payment that will eventually clear the balance.

I bank with the HSBC and they've already declined a load application I've made with them.

Thanks again

stephane_2

On that income you will find it almost impossible to get the amount required at a reasonable rate.....

macca5000

Just tried zopa, it wouldn't let me register with my credit rating.

I'm considering asking my parents to take out the loan for me instead.

It's a world away from when I was given all the credit a few years ago. I had most of it positively thrown at me! If lenders weren't so willing to dish out credit back then I wouldn't have ended up in this mess in the first place!

Apples2

macca5000 wrote: »

I'm not struggling with the repayments as such, it's just the balances will take forever to clear at the current rate of repayment.

Sounds like you are doing it wrong. You should be pushing yourself to the absolute bone every month to clear this debt off.
not struggling sounds as if you have a reasonable social life which ultimately, is money which could be used to push those balances down as quickly as possible.

macca5000 wrote: »

I'm considering asking my parents to take out the loan for me instead.

That is an option of course, but if you were one of your parents asking if this was a good idea, we would all be pointing them at THIS POST and pleading with them not to do it.
If your Parents made you debt free, how would you stop yourself running up the same debts again??

macca5000 wrote: »

If lenders weren't so willing to dish out credit back then I wouldn't have ended up in this mess in the first place!

Don't even go there dude :beer:

p1pey

only advice i can offer is pick a card to attack first and do whatever you can to pay as much as you can off each month without forcing yourself into more debt. once thats done, hit the other. its a crap life but you will be debt free with discipline.

parents route is interest free but can stuff things up if things go wrong, been there, abused it, wouldnt recommend it.

DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH BROKERS AND DO NOT PAY UP FRONT FEES... if it sounds too good to be true it is. there is no easy solution so you will just need to get your head down.

im sorry, hope this helps.

macca5000

Thank you all for your advice.

Having slept on it I've decided I'm not going to purse further borrowing. I'm going to try and spend next year paying a decent chunk of my debt off. If I can get down to just 2 cards both interest free I'll be a lot happier. Then I'll get down to one, then none.

Apples2 I hear ya. But after having a horrible couple of years in 2009 and 2010 with work and relationships the last thing I want to do is put myself into exile. All work and no play makes jack go crazy as we all know.

I will however cut back on socialising as much as sanity will allow. And stop using credit to fund it!

geoffky

good for you....its the sensible option...more debt to pay off debt in my eyes is very very risky