What level of credit rating gets you the best APR?

Gra76

I'm looking to take out a personal loan within the next couple of weeks, and decided it would be a good idea to check out my credit score, which I did via Experian. It was pretty high (541 I think) but surprisingly not as high as I'd thought it might be as I've never missed a payment on anything. The only thing that dragged the score down seemed to be the fact that I'm only paying for a couple of things via Direct Debit at the moment, rather than multiple things.

I want the best available rate on a loan of around £12k and the best I've seen recently seems to be the M&S loan with an advertised APR of 6%.

What percentage of people get that 6% though? If I apply for it and they approve it but offer me an APR that's higher than the 7.9% I know my bank will offer me can I turn them down and go to my bank without it having a negative affect on my credit score? It's been a while since I had a personal loan so I have no idea if it does or not.

Thanks in advance.

Gra

Apples2

Gra76 wrote: »

What percentage of people get that 6% though?

Only 51% of SUCCESSFUL applicants will get that figure, not many at all.

The other 49% of successful applicants will be offered a higher rate.

The many many thousands more appliants simply get rejected completely.

Your credit score is worthless, you can do with it as you wish but NO other lender gives a hoot if you get 999 or 1 as a score.

Gra76

Apples2 wrote: »

Only 51% of SUCCESSFUL applicants will get that figure, not many at all.

The other 49% of successful applicants will be offered a higher rate.

The many many thousands more appliants simply get rejected completely.

Your credit score is worthless, you can do with it as you wish but NO other lender gives a hoot if you get 999 or 1 as a score.

Are there any criteria that would make me more likely to get into the 51% of successful applicants or is it luck of the draw so to speak?

Apples2

No lender will divulge the secret formula they use. all you can do is ensure you appear attractive to them.
Nothing negative, plenty of history, boring middle aged Roy Cropper type of chap with no money worries at all, same residence since birth, on electoral roll, have a landline, drive a Nissan Note etc. etc.

DCFC79

Excellant advice from apples2, heed the advice posted

Gra76

Nothing negative, plenty of history, boring middle aged Roy Cropper type of chap with no money worries at all, same residence since birth, on electoral roll, have a landline, drive a Nissan Note etc. etc.

Well hopefully I'll be looked upon favourably then! As for the boring middle aged type...

- No money worries - well, I'm mortgage free now so certainly not struggling for money at the moment...
- Same residence since 2003, so quite a while then!
- On the electoral roll - Check!
- Have a landline - Check!
- Drive a Nissan Note - Does a Ford Mondeo count?! I think it's probably perceived to be just as 'interesting'! The loan is to bridge the gap between what I want and the part-ex value of the Mondeo though, so this might change!

I may as well apply and see if I get lucky and join the 51% rather than the 49%.