Is a loan possible for me?

swibbymcdibby

Hello, 
I was hoping to get some advice/information on whether I can actually get a loan. I have used loan calculators which offer a couple of bad options and I’m not sure which of my details are hurting me but have some ideas.

I recently completed a reskill course for a technical profession and have managed to land a position earning £30,000 a year. I have only been working for one month. Anyway, to fund the course I took out a loan with a company that do FEA (Future Earnings Agreement) loans for the price of the course which was £9,000. As it stands I will have to start making payments of 13% of my gross income every month for 4 years, maxing out at £15,000.

The loan provider have recently offered a limited time to pay off the loan in full for £9,500. I do not have that money but I was trying to see if I could get a loan to pay it off with that would offer me better terms.

My credit rating is “good” as far as I can tell but I know that’s not of huge importance, I think what hurts me is that I do not have much of a financial history, prior to this I earned very little and had very few financial commitments or anything.

Thanks for any direction you can provide.

swibbymcdibby

I should note that I am in a probationary period at my job and I think that among a few other things is scuppering my chances.

Brie

Have you talked to your bank about this?  It may be possible that they might be more willing as they can see better how you managed your money rather than some other bank loan who can only see what's on your credit history. 

Have a look at the T&Cs of the FEA loan.  There may be something in there that says at what points you can pay the loan in full and for how much.    Maybe you can get a decent settlement figure in a couple more months.  

And I find it curious that you are being required to pay back 13% of your gross income.  Is that your calculation?  Or is it in the T&Cs of the loan itself.  I would have thought that any loan from a regulated financial firm would have had to give you a set APR based on the loan amount instead of something based on your pay that would have been unknown at the time you signed the credit agreement.

swibbymcdibby

Brie said:

Have you talked to your bank about this?  It may be possible that they might be more willing as they can see better how you managed your money rather than some other bank loan who can only see what's on your credit history. 

Have a look at the T&Cs of the FEA loan.  There may be something in there that says at what points you can pay the loan in full and for how much.    Maybe you can get a decent settlement figure in a couple more months.  

And I find it curious that you are being required to pay back 13% of your gross income.  Is that your calculation?  Or is it in the T&Cs of the loan itself.  I would have thought that any loan from a regulated financial firm would have had to give you a set APR based on the loan amount instead of something based on your pay that would have been unknown at the time you signed the credit agreement.

Hello thanks for the reply. I haven’t spoken directly to my bank about it yet, the phone lines weren’t helpful and my nearest branch is closed atm, I’m booked in in a couple of weeks to see what they say.  

I’ve been trying to parse the contract and I think I’ve got it down but I could be missing something.  The 13% of gross income is in the T&Cs. You only have to start paying it back though, once you reach a certain income threshold, so in this case £25,000. And the maximum you can pay is £15,000 which is what I’m set to pay. 

I can’t get a loan with good terms like those that are advertised all over like 7% APR because of whatever they’re seeing in my history (or not seeing). I asked Santander but they basically told me that if the eligibility check doesn’t say I’m eligible there’s just no point going in to chat, so at this point I suspect I’m out of luck which is disappointing as you can imagine.

Nasqueron

You'd do better sucking it up for a bit and then overpaying the loan if you cannot get another loan now. Being on probation and the existing loan will count against you.