Loan advice sought

PaulG_3

Hi

Wonder if I can borrow some seeds of knowledge from u more clued up guys than myself here.

I went into my bank today to basically test the water with regards to a loan, wanting to see how much I could get, how much it would cost etc.

Now without them running the actual credit check, she put thru the figures of £4000 over 5 years, but the amout of APR was worryingly high. 19.4% if I remember rightly.

Now I have tried the various links thru moneysupermarket etc and am seeing rates of 4.8% -6% etc.


As far as debt goes, I have one credit card, an Amex thru my own bank, which I always make at least the minimum payment on.
I have an £800 overdraft which I dont normally go into, however the last couple of weeks I am about £2-300 into it.

Other than than that, only direct debits I have are always paid, phone bills etc, nothing missed.


My sloght worry is I am not 100% certain about being on electoral roll for current address I am registered at. I have a feeling I am though, there are a multitude of reasons for the doubt which are too long to go into.


I have been told when I took my last mobile phone contract a year ago, I had an excellent credit score.

I also have been in the proccess of seeing about a mortgage the last month or three and after explaining all the factors, the broker, took it to the Halifax who had no problem in offerring me an agreement in principle.
My income isnt the highest actually, but I havent much outgoings and the broker told me he wasnt even going to tell me how much the Halifax were willing to offer for a mortgage as it was a ridiculously high amount and he didnt want me getting carried away. Not that I would, but however.


ANYHOO, the mortgage thing is on the back burner right at this minute and a loan is the priority. Would taking a loan out just now have a great affect on any future mortgage??


Other than that, whart is my best option to go for a loan right now. I need the money for a car and just to basically get Xmas out the way and get on my feet again.



I thank anyone who has taken the time to read this and again for any opinions offered. Cheers

lotto-dreamer

I don't think your own bank is the way to go for a start. They are not necessarily going to give you the best option -even if they know your financial circumstances. I speak from experience.

19.4% is a very, very high rate. Shop around, you can probably do much better although I suspect you might not get the lowest rates either. I found Egg to be very helpful - fixed rate, easy to understand and no penalties if you pay back early. And, avoid adding payment protection insurance to the loan - get it separately if you need it, Martin has some good advice on one of the threads here.

I'm no expert, I am sure someone else will come along to offer better advice. But, definitely don't expect your own bank to offer the best rate -they generally don't.

Not sure how it would affect you getting a mortgage - but I think mortgagees look at things like how much credit you already have available to you (in forms of loans, credit cards etc, and the amount they are prepared to lend will probably be based on that - or at least that will be one of the criteria)

PaulG_3

thanks a lot for your reply. Yep, I have seen much lower rates available, tho havent applied for any yet other than using smartsearch thing as dont want to leave any on my credit record.

Is there any that tend to be more favourable towards someone in my circumstances really?

Also, what would be the best option to do with this pain in the a$$ Lloyds TSB AMEX I have? I took it out not knowing a thing about how bad Amex was at the time, and am basically just paying off minimum payments each month at the moment but the interest is rising, which it has since day 1. (Yes, I know now I am a mug lol) Should I be looking to balance transfer this and if so, which is best to do so to?? Outstanding balance of £800 roughly

Again, many thanks in advance to any helping hands here