How accurate are Totally Money's pre-approved statements of offer etc

Graham1982 · 5 February 2022 at 1:20PM

Hello everyone:

Had a discussion on here some time ago (late last year) about a Barclays unsecured loan which I used to consolidate an old credit card debt. I am pleased to say that I have been paying this to term and do not have any other debt/created any more debt as in lesson learned.

I do have a PayPal credit account and I use the interest free periods to buy stuff and then clear it before/on the date the interest free window ends.
I did have one late payment, completely by accident but it does appear on my credit file.

I also have savings amounting to around 10k and use the pot system for household expenses such as food etc.

In any case the Barclay loan is 18.5% and is not front loaded, i.e. interest is applied each month.

According to Totally Money I have a 95% acceptance chance for a Tesco loan at 8%, which would lower my payments by about 50 quid a month and obviously charge me less interest.

However, Experian only pulls-up subprime lenders such as Bamboo etc.

My question is, would applying for a Tesco loan in these circumstances be likely to be successful and would applying damage my credit worthiness going forward?

I mean how can Totally Money be providing really decent offers and Experian very poor ones if they both have the same details on me?

I know that both Experian and Totally Money are acting as brokers and aren't providing the money themselves.

Thanks

Graham

yksi · 5 February 2022 at 1:37PM

It might be successful, but I would think twice. The fact that you're only seeing Bamboo etc means that you are considered a high risk to most lenders. You should always trust the worst site/indicator. You could give it a go, provided that if you're unsuccessful you are ok with waiting several months before applying to ANY credit.

8% is not a great deal. This is more evidence that even Tesco thinks you're a risky customer. The best advice is to wait until you get a much clearer indicator that you are likely to be successful. This means that all the comparison sites tell you it's a 90% chance (if you haven't, sign up to Clearscore, Credit Karma and MSE's Credit Club).

While some might disagree with me, if you believe your job and income is relatively safe, it is madness to carry £10,000 in readily-accessible cash while you have a very expensive debt. If the loan conditions allow redraw, consider slapping the whole amount on there and redrawing it if/when something unexpected comes up where you need the cash. I have a personal loan with Nationwide and have done this several times. Your loan is costing you a lot of money in interest each month and every spare penny you put into that will save you cash.

For what it's worth... I am in a very similar boat and it's killing me to bide my time and wait. But there isn't much choice in the matter lol!