PCDL (Professional and Career Development Loan) rejected

Solitary_One

Hi everyone, I thought this was the best place to come for advice.

I applied for a Professional and Career Development Loan of £8,000 to cover the cost of a Master's degree which I am due to be taking in less than a month. I applied for the PCDL to cover both the tuition fees of around £5k and the cost of mounting two major overseas projects during the course.

The loan application was rejected because of my credit score, which I'm quite upset about since I have never had a loan, (bar student loan for my BA) credit card, HP, store cards or any other kind of credit product. I have over the years missed a few bills and I do have one "issue" ongoing which I will address below. I'm also quite overdrawn because of living expenses during my BA, about £1800 in one of my accounts.

The one serious problem I do currently have is that I am being chased by the "Insurance Collections Bureau ltd" for £222.

Basically what happened here was that after I left university in June there was a break between the end of the course and when I got some money coming in. I missed a car insurance payment of £50 by a few days, I called the insurance company and said I'd be able to make payment in five days, and they said to phone back. When I phoned back as promised to pay they asked for £85. I asked why and they replied they'd added a "£35 late payment fee" to my bill. I said (truthfully) I only had the £50 they asked for and I was willing to pay it right now, they declined and kept pushing for £85. I kept offering to pay the £50 but they stuck to their guns. Eventually they said if I didn't give them £85 they'd cancel my policy. I said "ok well, I suppose you will have to cancel it then."

Since then ICB ltd has been texting, phoning and writing to me with their "demands" for £222 - which I don't have anyway. I received my inkjet style "FINAL DEMAND" letter today. I can't pay it anyway, however I would still be prepared to pay the £50 I offered to shut the whole thing down as I feel this is the main reason for my PCDL being rejected.

PS: My experian report is in the post.

Any advice is warmly received.

Hazzinho

Check your files with all 3 CRA's, check Equifax and also Callcredit via Noddle. If you are being chased for debt there may be negative data on your file, being on the electoral roll helps. Not sure if a career loan works differently but the general rules are over 50% your gross salary is high risk so if £8k is your only debt you'd want to earn over £16k. Until you see your files it's all guess work, it might be obvious when you view them.

Solitary_One

Thanks Hazzinho. I've appealed it and asked for £4k just to cover 80% of the course fees and not the living expenses. Sending them all the relevant info today. *Fingers crossed*

andyuk01

I would be rather more concerned about the cancelled insurance than the loan

Better try and sort this out, a dispute of £35 is going to cost you thousands over the years

CLAPTON

Hazzinho wrote: »

Check your files with all 3 CRA's, check Equifax and also Callcredit via Noddle. If you are being chased for debt there may be negative data on your file, being on the electoral roll helps. Not sure if a career loan works differently but the general rules are over 50% your gross salary is high risk so if £8k is your only debt you'd want to earn over £16k. Until you see your files it's all guess work, it might be obvious when you view them.

CDL require no income ..in fact that the point of them.
They are based on the expectation of having a good job arising from the qualification.

Solitary_One

andyuk01 wrote: »

I would be rather more concerned about the cancelled insurance than the loan

Better try and sort this out, a dispute of £35 is going to cost you thousands over the years

Thousands?! Why is that? I'd of paid them the £50 and they wouldn't take it, I didn't have anything else to give them. Would it be worth offering to come to some kind of compromise, I don't have £222 to hand over to them anyway.

SammenForLivet2

Solitary_One wrote: »

Thousands?! Why is that? I'd of paid them the £50 and they wouldn't take it, I didn't have anything else to give them. Would it be worth offering to come to some kind of compromise, I don't have £222 to hand over to them anyway.

I think the poster may be referring to the fact that due to the deafault on your credit record for the £222, you are likely to be unable to get most forms of mainstream credit for six years, following the date they applied for the credit, and may have to goto 'Sub-Prime' credit.

This means you will have to pay more to borrow, and thus, cost you more.

Of course, this depends on if you are likely to look at borrowing in the near future (for example: Car Finance, Credit Cards, Store Cards Home Finance and even rent an apartment - as these will soon be credit rated/checked)

In the interim, have you applied both with the Co-Operative Bank and also Barclay's - as I believe these are banks currently offering these types of loans?

Perhaps, in hindsight, the £85 was not that much for the problems you *may* face.

Of course, this is just my opinion and the poster may be referring to something else.

Good luck with your application.

Solitary_One

macfamilyent wrote: »

I think the poster may be referring to the fact that due to the deafault on your credit record for the £222, you are likely to be unable to get most forms of mainstream credit for six years, following the date they applied for the credit, and may have to goto 'Sub-Prime' credit.

This means you will have to pay more to borrow, and thus, cost you more.

Of course, this depends on if you are likely to look at borrowing in the near future (for example: Car Finance, Credit Cards, Store Cards Home Finance and even rent an apartment - as these will soon be credit rated/checked)

In the interim, have you applied both with the Co-Operative Bank and also Barclay's - as I believe these are banks currently offering these types of loans?

Perhaps, in hindsight, the £85 was not that much for the problems you *may* face.

Of course, this is just my opinion and the poster may be referring to something else.

Good luck with your application.

Thanks for your post. I'm going to have to get this insurance thing sorted it seems, hopefully they will come to some kind of compromise.

I've not applied to Barclays yet, I will do though.

andyuk01

macfamilyent wrote: »

I think the poster may be referring to the fact that due to the deafault on your credit record for the £222, you are likely to be unable to get most forms of mainstream credit for six years, following the date they applied for the credit, and may have to goto 'Sub-Prime' credit.

This means you will have to pay more to borrow, and thus, cost you more.

Of course, this depends on if you are likely to look at borrowing in the near future (for example: Car Finance, Credit Cards, Store Cards Home Finance and even rent an apartment - as these will soon be credit rated/checked)

In the interim, have you applied both with the Co-Operative Bank and also Barclay's - as I believe these are banks currently offering these types of loans?

Perhaps, in hindsight, the £85 was not that much for the problems you *may* face.

Of course, this is just my opinion and the poster may be referring to something else.

Good luck with your application.

I was referring to the impact of having an insurance policy cancelled will make to any future policy

Go to confused or an other insurance comparison site and enter your details and tick the box that asks if you have ever had an insurance policy cancelled and you'll see what i mean