Natwest Loan

Jami74

CXG1979 said:

I sorely regret this now for sure.  They do not have an easy process for overpayments - you cannot add odd amounts here and there and chip away at it, you have to pay in lump sums......highly annoying

You should be able to call them up to make an overpayment fairly easily. Not sure if there is a minimum amount for an overpayment but when I had my Natwest loan I would call up and pay off £50 at a time. They would add 2 months interest onto that £50 but that is still better than paying interest on it for the remainder of the ten years. They always asked if I wanted the monthly repayments reduced and the term to stay the same or if I wanted to carry on paying the same so that the loan finishes sooner. I chose the latter as it saved the most interest.

pmartin86

CXG1979 said:

pmartin86 said:

You also need to remember that a 6-month payment break is not equal to a 6-month interest break, that will have probably cost you dearly.

You're right - it has - it extended the loan period by 20 months, which they DID NOT make clear at the time. Grrr. Very annoyed at myself; had I have known I probably wouldn't have done the full 6 months.

Seems like a common misconception to be fair - I was one of the few fortunate enough to actually come out "ahead" with covid (same salary, saves about £200 a month on commute as I worked from home and god knows how much on the odd coffee or sandwich) but I have several friends who weren't as lucky, at least 2 of them got caught in the same trap as you, though one of them absolutley needlessly as they decided to take the break even though they didn't need it...just so they would have spare cash for "toys" (new TV etc)

macman

I'm still struggling with how the OP thinks that 16% APR is a 'good deal' on a ten year loan.