Not happy with Santander APR offered, whats the best course of action?

s_c_wood

Hi, I wondered if anyone could assist me. The situation is as follows; I applied for a loan from Santander to buy a car, the headline rate for the loan was 4.9% APR but in the email I received from them saying I'd been accepted the terms offered were 17.9% APR. I'm now stuck asI don't know the implicationsof cancelling the offer, i.e. will it then go on my credit record and lead to me being rejected by other lenders or offered an even higher APR if I continue to shop around? I'm loath to accept extortionate interest but on the other hand if it's likely to be the best I'll get then I'll stick with it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

andyfromotley

The key question is are you likely to get a better rate elsewhere? Only 51% of people get the headline rate. So Santander obviously view you as a much higher risk than you? If all is ok with your credit history then you can probably do better.

You could start by using the eligibility checker, although this will not tell you the rate you are going to get it will give you an idea. If they are all the mainstream lenders showing low headline rates then you can probably get a better rate.

Do you know if your lender carried out a hard or soft search? If a soft search then its no problem, no one other than you can see this. If its a hard search then it may put off some lenders but i doubt it would put of all. The trouble is its impossible to know which will take a dimmer view.

So be honest with yourself, are you likely to get a better rate? If so go for it. I'd be interested to hear how you get on. HTH

Tryingtomoveout

Check how long the offer is open for (usually about 7 days) and then do a few more applications in the interim - I recommend Tesco bank.


If you don't get anywhere after 2 applications then probably settle with 17% apr.

Tryingtomoveout

by the way, higher APR's are less about you being a high risk to the bank, and more about the bank knowing you're unlikely to get a better offer anywhere else so they can charge you as much as they reckon you will pay

leveller2911

Is there any way of finding out how many applicants actually receive the headline rate?.
The reason I ask is because I recently applied for a £7k loan from HSBC, whom I bank with and run my business through for over 20 years. I have a credit score of 991, no debts whatsoever, income of £38k+ a year (this year around £47k). There has been around £95k go through the account this year and yet the best rate I was offered was 9.9% when the headline rate was 3.9%.

Is it all just a big con from the lenders?........

PeacefulWaters

Is it all just a big con from the lenders?........

They would probably lose the right to lend if this was ever proved.

And the FCA have the powers to check.

I have a credit score of 991

I have some pot pourri. Equally useful.

Apples2

leveller2911 wrote: »

Is there any way of finding out how many applicants actually receive the headline rate?.

51% of successful applicant gets it, the remainder get something else and a whole raft of others get rejected outright.

As you have seen, your "score" means diddly squat. The people giving you that score don't even lend money. If they did start lending money, I doubt they would be so keen to award so many people the high 900's.

gazman100

Does anyone know if it's 51% of applicants or 51% of lending? Just a thought but Santander offer loans for 7.5-20k. If they only had to offer best rates to 51% of applicants surely that would favour the lower amounts being offered best rates? Just curious really.

Of course that does discount the very nature of people shopping around...

s_c_wood

Thanks for the replies! Andy how would I find out whether they did a hard or a soft search? That's basically the reason that I'm not shopping around at the moment as I don't want to get locked into a cycle of diminishing returns if the lenders can all see when I'm applying. Also does anyone know if I would have to cancel the loan offer from Santander before applying for any others? I haven't signed a credit agreement although I received the papers today, I've just been preliminarily accepted

Again many thanks in advance

Apples2

51% of the successful applicants applying for the product they are advertising the rate for.

Credit files record searches, just searches. It doesn't record if it were declined or accepted.

andyfromotley

Ring them up and ask them would be the easiest way?