Natwest Loan

ab11_2

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here has applied for Natwest personal loans or have any suggestions for me. I am planning on applying for about 16k, maybe over 6-7 years. I am an existing account holder and have regular income of 22k. I need the loan for my wedding, planned in August. I applied for a credit card about 4 months ago from Natwest, just to improve my credit score and I've been using it for 3 months now (I've only bought a few things with it online and withdrew cash a few time). I think my credit score is good anyway but wanted the credit card to improve it for my own peace of mind.

I've heard contradictory things and wanted some advice. I'm thinking of applying for the loan now because I think I need some of the money now. I've heard for a credit card to improve your score you have to have had it and used it for 6 months. Plus you should only pay the minimum amount monthly, not the full amount, as lenders would see this as making them profit. Is that true? Does that mean I should really wait for another 3 months? (Given I only started using the credit card 3 months ago?) and continue buying stuff and only paying minimum amount each month.
I checked my credit score with experian a few years ago and it was 999! Also I checked my credit file and it was all clear, mainly because I always pay my bills on time.

Has anyone got any advice? Particularly interested to hear from people who applied for a Natwest loan! I read a few reviews and they werent good! I dont want to apply and get rejected (because this will stay on my record). Plus all reviews Ive read so far are saying the interest rate they got was much higher than what was advertised on Natwest website.

If Natwest is not a good option then I can always arrange my salary to go to another bank and apply for a loan through them, say Barclays or HSBC but I need to know now!

Thanks,

bigadaj

Experian score is pointless, ignore it.

There are plenty of threads on here about loans for weddings, take some time to read through them which will answer some of your queries.

It's always better to pay your credit card off in full so start doing that.

It's extremely unlikely you'll get a loan for that amount, whilst there are exceptions a rule of thumb is that you won't normally get more than half your earnings, so £11k assuming you have no other debt.

The other question is that even if you did get this loan you d be paying a fair bit of interest, save up for it and it will be cheaper. There is of course no reason to spend that much on a wedding, if you can afford it then that's ok, but borrowing the money sounds as though you can't.

runforlife

It's mainly down to affordability. What are your outgoings already? You could go into the bank and they could do a pre credit check calculation for you. I don't think drawing cash on your credit card is seen as too helpful but I may be wrong on that. It's just that on the credit reports there is a specific mention of cash drawn, how often and how much. Now why would they want to know that?

20aday

If you head over to NatWest's website there is a "soft search" function telling you if you'd be eligible.

This doesn't leave a mark on your credit file that is visible to other lenders.

MEM62

You are unlikely to be offered a £16K loan if your salary is £22K. This should fail on the grounds of affordability.


What you should be asking yourself is "Do I want to start married life with £16,000 of debt?" That is a lot of money for one day. If a big wedding is that important to you save for it - you will be very glad that you did.

FireWyrm

I can almost guarantee you wont get £16K on a £22K salary. Banks dont like lending more than 50% of your gross annual income at the very outside. You might get £5K or so, but £16K is almost certainly out of the question. In which case, I strongly suggest you look closely at how to cut the wedding down to size. Starting married life so far is debt is rarely a good idea, especially if you want a mortgage any time soon.

[Deleted User]

While I hate to be the voice of doom, I agree that starting married life with £16k of debt is probably best avoided.

I have a good friend who took out a loan for his wedding. Unfortunately the marriage lasted only 3 years and he was still paying for it for 2 years after his wife went off with someone else. It was very sad

Lioness_Twinkletoes

£16k for a wedding based on an annual income of £22k is madness. Complete insantity. You could have a brilliant wedding for £5k - and that incudes the honeymoon.

Seriously, you need to rethink your ideas.

somethingcorporate

Totally bonkers, 6-7 years to pay off one day. No single day is worth the millstone of a £16k loan, especially not on a £22k salary.

Cut your cloth accordingly, you shouldn't be starting your marriage living a life you cannot afford.

BillJones

ab11 wrote: »

Has anyone got any advice?

Yes, in line with what others said, scale back your plans, and don't take on a debt which is probably about five years of disposable income.

You will be doing two things on your wedding day, getting married, and having a big party. The first bit is the important bit, and costs a couple of hundred pounds, so why then do you want to tack on a £16k party?

I know that your first wedding seems like a big thing, but it's not, it's the marriage that matters.

AdamMc90

I took out a loan with Natwest in 2011 and I had no problems at all, mine was for £6000 over 3 years and was a decent rate so I can't really speak for the negative reviews but with me at least they were ok, especially considering I was 21 at the time with no real credit history. I paid the loan off a year early although with early settlement fees and stuff it worked out that there was little or no saving in doing so.

I agree with sentiments above though, thats a long time to be paying back a debt for one day, personally I'd reconsider my options than taking on a huge debt.