Halifax Referring Loan Applications To A Third Party Lender

Viaduct_street

Hi.
I applied for a consolidation loan via the halifax website, at 6.9 per cent which they are advertising at the moment .

When you apply there is a box that says something along the lines of " if we turn you down for this loan, there may be other people who would lend you money - would you like to hear from then" . so naturally to cover all bases i ticked ok. ( and i wish now i hadn't )

Halifax turned me down, but then i got a rather scrappy letter from a division of the Citi group saying " please ring this number about your appointment".

As i've had no dealings with the citi group and have never made an appointment, i didnt call them. the next thing a guy from the citi group called me at work, saying guess what , they were prepared to offer me a loan of 10000 ( i had applied for 13k ) , pending paperwork.

Was this about the Halifax loan i asked? He said that a broker passed the details onto them . I guess that 's what i signed up to . but here's the point - he offered me the loan at a whopping 17.9 per cent APR . When i declined he pointed out that my credit rating was not so good - personally I think it's just because im paying off a debt that exceeds my borrowing capacity and that's fair enough ( although he conceded i had always made my payments ) and that's why i had been turned down by halifax and that he betted my Credit cards were all at over 20 per cent APR> I pointed out to him that as a money saving expert i was in fact in possession of a number of cards with life of balance deals below 6 per cent, and that what he was offering me was very steep indeed and thank you but i didnt want anything other than a competitive rate. he said if i took out this loan he could offer me a loan at Ten per cent next year. NO THANK YOU .

My point is that as we are in the business of encouraging money saving and debt solving, the halifax pointing people towards other lenders who offer almost TRIPLE their rates is not helping. Vulnerable people may sign up to this and they will never ever get to pay off their debts as the interest is so steep ok , i could have not ticked the box, but i figured someone from the Halifax or simliar would call me rather than someone saying that all i deserved was 17.9 per cent

also i want to know will the search that citi group did also affect my credit rating as while i know halifax had to do one, i dont want the world and his wife being sent my details and then doing searches on my accounts.

ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING?
thanks
VIADUCT STREET

Rafter

You ticked the box!

Lenders often refer applications that fail in order to earn commission and recover some of their own costs associated with declined applications.

If you have loans and credit cards already and are looking for more loans and by your own admission have debt that exceeds your borrowing capacity already then 17.9% is probably not a bad deal.

R.

regularsaver1

The loans on the site are initially offered by Bank of Scotland - totally different than in the Halifax branches

crazyfj

is it the old halifax system in the branch or over the phone,

it would be really helpful to know
ta

regularsaver1

branch

if you do it over the phone with the contact centre uses same system, but - to complete you either pay £50 courier fee, or you have to visit a branch to complete anyway as must be face to face to complete

Moonbeam

"The loans on the site are initially offered by Bank of Scotland - totally different than in the Halifax branches"

Nope - all loans are offered on the same package - company now HBOS - not Halifax or Bank of Scotland and lots of work has been done to merge the systems over the past few years.

Branch can be quicker and easier as they can have it in your account the same day if you bank with them....and no £50 courier fee....

jonesMUFCforever

This kind of thing is normal practise in the financial world.
The only time I would be upset about it is if I had specifically asked them not to refer me on.

regularsaver1

Moonbeam wrote:

"The loans on the site are initially offered by Bank of Scotland - totally different than in the Halifax branches"

Nope - all loans are offered on the same package - company now HBOS - not Halifax or Bank of Scotland and lots of work has been done to merge the systems over the past few years.

Branch can be quicker and easier as they can have it in your account the same day if you bank with them....and no £50 courier fee....

not necessarily a merged system

it seems the loan system online is totally different to us in branch

loans in Halifax branches all begin with roll number 7/

on internet they do not have a number like that - hence Bank of Scotland