Cheapest loans at 2.8% disappearing? New rate? Better to borrow now?

digitalend

The latest MSE Money Tips newsletter states:

The cheapest loans, at just 2.8%, are DISAPPEARING. If you need to borrow, now's the time to examine your options

A month ago, five lenders offered loans for larger amounts at rock-bottom 2.8% rates. Now, only three do for all loan terms. Historically that's still incredibly cheap, close to the cheapest-ever rates, yet these rate rises may be an indication that the mood music is turning, and borrowing's starting to get more expensive. Once you get a loan, the rate's fixed so if you do need to borrow, it may be worth acting sooner.

So - if those 2.8% rates may be disappearing - does anyone know what's being offered instead? Are those same companies raising rates and if so what to?

My wife and I are planning on some home improvements this year and were going to borrow to fund it. We don't need the money for another 6 weeks at least I expect - perhaps longer. I'm trying to work out if it's better for me to borrow some, or all of the money now, or wait and potentially risk paying more in interest.

[Deleted User]

digitalend said:

The latest MSE Money Tips newsletter states:

The cheapest loans, at just 2.8%, are DISAPPEARING. If you need to borrow, now's the time to examine your options

A month ago, five lenders offered loans for larger amounts at rock-bottom 2.8% rates. Now, only three do for all loan terms. Historically that's still incredibly cheap, close to the cheapest-ever rates, yet these rate rises may be an indication that the mood music is turning, and borrowing's starting to get more expensive. Once you get a loan, the rate's fixed so if you do need to borrow, it may be worth acting sooner.

So - if those 2.8% rates may be disappearing - does anyone know what's being offered instead? Are those same companies raising rates and if so what to?

My wife and I are planning on some home improvements this year and were going to borrow to fund it. We don't need the money for another 6 weeks at least I expect - perhaps longer. I'm trying to work out if it's better for me to borrow some, or all of the money now, or wait and potentially risk paying more in interest.

MSE had a list of Best Buy loan rates. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cheap-personal-loans/

Personally I’d want to know that a) I could borrow enough and b) at what rate before committing to the home improvements. 

[Deleted User]

If you can get anything like 2.8%, take it.

But bear in mind you may not get that date, or even anything at all. So if you really do plan to do the work, you need to sort funds now before you commit to it.

cymruchris

digitalend said:

The latest MSE Money Tips newsletter states:

The cheapest loans, at just 2.8%, are DISAPPEARING. If you need to borrow, now's the time to examine your options

A month ago, five lenders offered loans for larger amounts at rock-bottom 2.8% rates. Now, only three do for all loan terms. Historically that's still incredibly cheap, close to the cheapest-ever rates, yet these rate rises may be an indication that the mood music is turning, and borrowing's starting to get more expensive. Once you get a loan, the rate's fixed so if you do need to borrow, it may be worth acting sooner.

So - if those 2.8% rates may be disappearing - does anyone know what's being offered instead? Are those same companies raising rates and if so what to?

My wife and I are planning on some home improvements this year and were going to borrow to fund it. We don't need the money for another 6 weeks at least I expect - perhaps longer. I'm trying to work out if it's better for me to borrow some, or all of the money now, or wait and potentially risk paying more in interest.

I wouldn't envisage loan rates going down - nobody really knows what's going to come next in terms of worldwide recovery - so it's all going to be a bit of guesswork at the moment. If the recovery is quick and strong - then you might see the 2.8 percents becoming widespread again. If it's slow and steady, you might find interest rates creep up a touch, and loans become harder to get. If it goes badly wrong and takes a few years to recover - then you might find rates go up quite a bit more. But for now - nobody knows. You either take a chance and see if you can get the 2.8 percent now - or wait and see what happens. 

[Deleted User]

digitalend said:

The latest MSE Money Tips newsletter states:

The cheapest loans, at just 2.8%, are DISAPPEARING. If you need to borrow, now's the time to examine your options

A month ago, five lenders offered loans for larger amounts at rock-bottom 2.8% rates. Now, only three do for all loan terms. Historically that's still incredibly cheap, close to the cheapest-ever rates, yet these rate rises may be an indication that the mood music is turning, and borrowing's starting to get more expensive. Once you get a loan, the rate's fixed so if you do need to borrow, it may be worth acting sooner.

So - if those 2.8% rates may be disappearing - does anyone know what's being offered instead? Are those same companies raising rates and if so what to?

My wife and I are planning on some home improvements this year and were going to borrow to fund it. We don't need the money for another 6 weeks at least I expect - perhaps longer. I'm trying to work out if it's better for me to borrow some, or all of the money now, or wait and potentially risk paying more in interest.

I have been very active over the past few weeks in researching loans and getting quotations.

Bear in mind of course that a quote is not guaranteed and what is offered can still be a higher APR that you were expecting.

Have a comb through your credit file, perhaps use the free Experian CreditExpert trial which gives you lots of useful pointers on the health of your credit file and what needs improving to get an idea of whether you are likely to be eligible for the best rates out there or not.

Use MSE's Club Credit account which is free to get a closer look on your credit file and history and what rates you may be eligible for now.

And of course the MSE loan comparison tool and MoneySuperMarket comparison tools which are partnered with a company called HD Decisions (owned by Experian) who carry out eligibility checks and run a soft search on your credit history held at Experian to give you an idea of how likely you are to be accepted for a loan, sometimes you get a guaranteed rate for a loan result which is likely the rate you will get if approved (I have checked this).

You should be fine for "Home Improvement" as a reason.


Last week I got a loan from Sainsbury for 20K @ 3 Per cent.

Also been accepted for other loans at around 6%.

I would suggest the following for the best rates (around 3%):

• Post Office/AA Loans/ Bank Of Ireland (all the same underwriter, only pick one for full application)
• TSB Loans 
• Sainsburys
• Tesco Loans (I have loan here too at 2.8%)

Those are your best bets IMO from my research.

Next up are Santander, Ratesetter, Virgin, but look at the above list first.

[Deleted User]

It is of course possible that base rate will go negative this summer, the B of E did flag that one last year, and recent news suggest that the Indian economy is about to tank.