Last time I use loan eligibility checker

[Deleted User]

The_Jester wrote: »

Bit the bullet and applied through Sainsburys. It sailed through. The same rate it was advertised at which was 2.9%.

So that's 1 out of 3 this eligibility tool has got right.

Only thing was I said it was for home improvements rather than a car this time. Could this be the problem?

So now you are lying on applications. Well done you!

BakingC

Could be any number of things from:
Eligibility checks only give % to get a loan not to get headline rate
The lender had already lent enough at the headline rate to satisfy the 51% they need to offer it to
Car loans are seen as more risky than home improvement loans by the lender
You are just not their ideal customer e.g. if you already have a mortgage perhaps they are trying to build relationships with customers with the aim of selling them mortgages in the future so you are not their "Ideal" customer.
A butterfly flapped its wings in southeast Asia and the micro-vibrations caused a computer in the UK to spit out a different answer

I would be careful about tailoring your application with the hope of trying to game the system into giving a better rate. Deliberately misleading on a credit application form is called fraud and is a way to end up not being able to offered a rate at any bank for the foreseeable future.

PixelPound

C.M. wrote: »

The eligibility checker only tells you the % likelihood of you being offered a loan with a named lender and it tells you the lender’s current headline rate for loans of the value you are looking at.

It doesn’t say you have, for example, a 95% chance of being offered a loan AT that headline rate. As others have said, only 51% of customer have to be offered that rate in order for the lender to be able to advertise it.

This is an important fact that many miss, including the OP, whose complaint was not been given the headline rate despite 95% chance. They had been offered a loan, so in the 95% but not at the headline rate so not in the 51%.

It is important to check smallprint regarding rates as there are some creditors who are willing to offer 20% or 30% to some applicants, so some with poorer credit histories may get a higher acceptance rate on comparison sites with these companies than with others who only limit to smaller percentile loans.