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Personal Loan % rate query. Is it all a con

Do people ever actually get the % rate advertised on personal loans??
Or is it a ploy to get you into branch and try and persuade you to take out a higher % loan.

Ive been banking with HSBC for 10 years and need a loan of £7000 to pay for a car. Saw their rate of 3.9% and thought great thats as low as ive seen.
Did an online application and got offered 9.9% and was furious. So ive just come from a meeting at the branch near me and gone through everything again and its 9.9% again.

The HSBC guy rang the underwriters and said 'Look this customer is able to get a loan at 4% with Sainsburys (well my wife is, but it will take a couple of weeks to get the money, and we need it within 2 days). We will lose his custom.'
And they still said 9.9%, so i said fine im closing my account.

He said its to do with the details he put into the computer and credit rating. Ive never been overdrawn or had any issues moneywise. No credit cards and the only bills to come out of my account are a standing order to my wife to pay my share of the bills.

Its as if they think 'If he can afford 3.9% he can afford 9.9% when they have worked out my incomings/outgoings.
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Comments

  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    Yes at least 51% of successful appliants get the advertised rate.

    I have been offered the advertised rate the last 4 loan applications I made (I only took out one of the loans).
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • You obviously don't match the profile of someone they want to offer their best rate too. There is no need to throw your toys out of the pram, apply elsewhere.
    Thinking critically since 1996....
  • Apples2
    Apples2 Posts: 6,442 Forumite
    Looks like your credit file is empty.

    They need "some" evidence to see how you manage your money but with a blank file, they have made a guess, the same as they do with youngsters who are just starting out on the road to debt.
  • ViolaLass
    ViolaLass Posts: 5,764 Forumite
    It looks like you have very little credit history for them to check. You could help that by getting a credit card and paying it off in full each month.
  • ViolaLass wrote: »
    It looks like you have very little credit history for them to check. You could help that by getting a credit card and paying it off in full each month.


    thats insane though. i dont need or want a credit card.
  • You obviously don't match the profile of someone they want to offer their best rate too. There is no need to throw your toys out of the pram, apply elsewhere.

    always one smart !!!! eh.

    still at least some sensible people offered nice advice.:shhh:
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    thats insane though. i dont need or want a credit card.

    If you don't want a credit card then don't get one, but without some credit history you will likely continue to have similar issues getting accepted for a loan.

    A credit card is a good and free way to build up a positive credit history so that if you do need to borrow money in future you should find it easier to get accepted for a loan and are likely to be offered a lower APR.
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • Gaz83
    Gaz83 Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    always one smart !!!! eh.

    still at least some sensible people offered nice advice.:shhh:
    ... and you said the most sensible advice you were given was "insane".
    "Facism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you... [it] doesn't walk in saying, "our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."
  • Gaz83
    Gaz83 Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    By the way...
    Ive been banking with HSBC for 10 years...

    The HSBC guy rang the underwriters and said 'Look this customer is able to get a loan at 4% with Sainsburys (well my wife is, but it will take a couple of weeks to get the money, and we need it within 2 days). We will lose his custom.'
    And they still said 9.9%, so i said fine im closing my account.

    Ive never been overdrawn or had any issues moneywise.
    "Losing your custom" isn't any kind of threat to them - it sounds extremely likely that the bank will have made negligible money from your custom. Banks take on customers because they hope that one day they'll take out a loan, credit card or mortgage with them - not so that they can just pay their salary in and their bills out.
    "Facism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you... [it] doesn't walk in saying, "our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."
  • Apples2
    Apples2 Posts: 6,442 Forumite
    To be fair, leaving it until 2 days before needing the money before even applying for a loan is a bit short sighted.
    Even if you had got accepted there is no guarantee you would have received the money in time.

    Sounds like your Wife handles all the finances anyway so get her to apply and you "up" your payments to her. Once [STRIKE]you [/STRIKE] she has the money, go looking for a car.
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