Changes to way minimum payments are calculated...

nakiwala123

izools wrote: »

Same, same. :rotfl:

Ditto!!!:rotfl:

jamesd

izools wrote: »

those with a promotional balance won't be affected

Those with promotional balances will lose money because they will be paying off more of the balance, getting less money on average at the promotional rate. That's less money made in a savings account or less money put towards paying off a card or loan with a higher APR than the promotional one.

izools wrote: »

This change in payment requirements will prevent people from incurring more interest than the minimum payment works out to.

No, it will cost many more in interest. It will force them to pay more on the low interest rate debts instead of keeping those at a lower minimum payment and putting all of their overpayment money towards the most expensive one. It's bad news for those who are trying to sensibly clear the highest rate debt first.

izools wrote: »

I stand by my opinion that a customer who was previously paying under 1% of the capital + interest each month should NOT have their account reported as in "Good Standing" (i.e. paid on time)

That desire is contrary to the facts. It was paid on time therefore that's what should be reported.

izools wrote: »

they can't even clear 1% of the capital each month and other creditors need to be able to see this quickly and simply from soneone's credit file by way of an AP marker or such like.

There is a flag available at the credit reporting agencies that says whether only a minimum payment was made.

You do appear to be making the invalid assumption that making minimum payments on one debt is a sign of inability to pay more on that debt. It can mean no more than prudent overpaying of the most expensive debt first, or a 0% debt where the sensible thing to do is put as much money as possible into a savings account until the day before the deal ends.

jamesd

izools wrote: »

If you can get a loan from Zopa (they are very strict) it's well worth looking at as they have the best actual rates on the market.

Please don't repeat that false claim here. Zopa does not have the best rates on the market.

The best rates on the market are from 0% or other discount rate credit card purchase or balance transfer deals. After those come the other deals in the cheap loans article, which go as low as 6.9% for the amount mentioned by the original poster here. Those who are able to meet Zopa's requirements are also those who are likely to qualify for these deals.

There are good things about Zopa but the cheapest rate is not one of those things and isn't likely to be as long as credit card companies are making promotional offers. Unlike credit cards it also doesn't clear the most expensive balance first. It won't even let you completely pay off the most expensive loans, instead insisting that you have to pay off all or none. Except where you pay more than one fee to Zopa to set them up as completely different loan accounts, then each of those collections of loans with a different fee could be paid off at different speeds. But you still won't be able to pay off the most expensive individual loans within each loan account.

"Zopa Loan: £4,000 Loan, £3,700 Bal (12.9% APR 36 Months)". You might consider seeing whether you can get a 0% for purchases credit card deal or one of the ones in the best loans article. That should be cheaper and then you can put the money you spend on the card as overpayments on the loan via Zopa. Your actual ongoing cost will be lower than the APR because on a £4,000 loan the Zopa fee will be a substantial part of the APR quoted to you. But it still won't be able to compete with a credit card deal.

Declaration of interest: I have both loan and lending via Zopa. I also have current lending offers there which are unlikely to be matched.