Personal loan with length longer than remaining visa?

highnoon888

Hi all,

Does anyone know of a loan provider that will provide a personal loan for a length longer than my remaining visa?

My visa expires next year in September, but I will be eligible for ILR and will convert to permanent residency. I own a house and have a mortgage, so I have roots in the UK long-term.

I was soft denied by Nationwide for a 48 month loan for debt consolidation and told I could only do an 11 month loan due to my visa.

Are there any mainstream providers that will offer a longer loan term?

For context, I am looking to pay off c.£14,000 in credit card debt, interest rate of 35%. Have been to a counsellor, have a new budget, have the root causes sorted and family supporting me emotionally, but getting eating by nearly £400/m in interest. A personal loan would help wipe this off.

DullGreyGuy

For an unsecured loan I would imagine most would have the requirement. That said, looking at Tesco Bank it's not immediately obvious that it is for them but it may come later in the actual application process. 

If you were to look at secured lending then there are better chances because they can obviously go after the asset were you to have your ILR/PR denied and disappear off out the country. 

sourcrates

Probably not what you want to hear, but consolidating existing debt is not a good idea.

Many people try this, most rack up the debts on the cards again, and then have two lots of debt to service.

The real shocker is that they do this numerous times before they see the folly of their ways.
If you have unaffordable debt, then there are ways to deal with it that does not involve borrowing more money.

Debt management is likely what you will be looking at, you repay what your disposable income allows over a longer period of time, interest gets stopped usually, no more borrowing money that`s not yours, just good, easy repayment terms that allow you to live within your budget.

Yes your credit file will suffer, but that should be viewed as a positive, as borrowing more money is not the way forward.

Pop over to the debt free wannabe board and say hello.

PRAISETHESUN

I had issues trying to open new bank accounts for switching in the 12 months before my visa expired - it'll probably vary on a bank by bank basis, but LBG in particular was fairly firm about it until I got my ILR sorted so I'm not surprised Nationwide also has an issue with it. From the bank's perspective, the risk is that you default on your loan and then they aren't able to easily recover the money because you have to leave the country.

I suspect you'll either need a broker, or to contact each bank individually and them their view on the matter.