Graduate Loan

barnabylane

I am a recent graduate and have just been rejected by Natwest for a £5000 loan over 5 years on the grounds of 'affordability', something I dispute, but still. I'd like advice on how to be more successful in my next attempt.

My circumstances are:

Basic Salary of £18,000 with uncapped commission and bonuses estimated to come to £5,000-15,000.

Two maxed Credit Cards, one £500 and one £800.

Overdraft of £2000

I recognise that they're obviously not going to give me £5000, repayments for which work out at £125.

Would I be more successful with £4000 or £3000 perhaps? Loans below £5k also have a slightly higher interest rate.

Would it be worth trying a different bank? I hold a Natwest Graduate account but that doesn't seem to be helping much.

paddyrg

Before tax you're getting £1500/month, so after tax and NI they probably are wondering if you haven't been able to pay off the overdraft how you would afford the loan in addition. Maybe they're also counting student loans (do you have any?), and want to see you paying off previous debts before giving you new ones?

You could try other lenders, but if your own bank won't lend, it's not usually a good sign for other lenders either.

barnabylane

I've not paid off existing debts because I've had this job for about a week. Before that I was a bartender on far less money. That's the point: my circumstances have changed enormously. I've reapplied, this time for £3500. Should have an answer in a day or two.

Hax

I think the problem is that you've only just changed your job - they can't see any history of increased income yet and are probably basing their decisions on your account history - not on your forecast.

iolanthe07

They'll only look at your basic - commission and bonuses are probably not guaranteed. You need to establish a few months of solid income from your new job before you apply again. They might assume you are on probabation, and with 20% of new graduates unemployed, they may want a bit more time to see that your new employment is well established.