After making a decision to buy a new car, (see my previous op!) I shopped around for the best loan deal I could find that suited me. The most obvious places, like my bank, or the place I was buying my car from did not offer anything favourable to me.
What I was looking for was a loan where I could be flexible, i.e. be able to pay off lump sums when I can afford it, or increase my monthly payments or take a month off maybe now and then. It would also be nice to clear the debt without incurring penalty.
So, after checking my banks website, and calling them, I searched on the net for flexible loans. Two familiar names came up, Egg, and Cahoot.
The Cahoot site didn’t load for me, I am an impatient sort, so they lost my business straight away. Egg was looking good already!
The Egg folk offer a number of personal finance solutions, such as current accounts, credit cards, ISAs, mortgages and loans. For the lowdown visit egg.com.
The loans page was located easily. I already knew what I needed to borrow, and what I wanted to pay back each month. The loan calculator on the site told me that I could borrow my cash, and pay it off at a rate that suited me.
Everything else I needed in a loan was also offered. The benefits of egg are as follows.
Low interest rates – My loan of £7000 is 10.7%APR. You will pay different APR’s depending on your borrowed amount. To compare – I was quoted 11.9% APR by my bank, and over 12.0% by the place I’m buying my car from.
Interest rates won’t go up, buy may actually come down and benefit you, as interest on your debt is calculated daily.
Choose to pay off more per month when you can afford it, or use a lump sum to reduce the debt and term or to reduce your monthly payment.
Take a payment holiday of up to 3 months.
Instant decision over the phone. You can apply online but you won’t know for day or two if you’re approved.
So after discovering what seemed like the ideal loan for me I was on the phone to them. After 15 minutes of probing questions, such as salary, and current outgoings, (fair questions though obviously – they do want their cash back eventually!) I was lectured about the pitfalls of not taking out the £30 a month extra payment protection which I had waived. The lady I was talking with made out that she was not sure if the loan would be approved if I wouldn’t take out payment protection.
This was the only negative aspect of the loan process. I consider a car to be a luxury really, if I was out of work for a long time or was really ill I wouldn’t need a car or be able to afford to run one anyway! Therefore no need in my opinion for payment protection on a car loan.
So anyway, the loan was approved. I received direct debit papers in the very next days post. Two days after that I had a confirmation letter saying the money had been paid into my account!
All in all the process was very swift, and easy to do. I now have the cash waiting in my bank account in anticipation of the 28th of September when alflavor will be blasting around the streets in a MCC Smart Passion!
I will update as and when I use any features of the loan, such as using a lump sum to decrease the debt. Well you never know, I may win Bananalotto or Tombola!
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Good op - one small niggle though, Egg dont (and never have done) offer a current account service.
scdaniels 10.09.2002 11:19
I'm looking for a small loan too, but was a bit nervous about doing it over the internet, but with your advice I'll give them a look. How long did it take to go into your bank?
Advantages: Easy to apply, competitive interest rate, excellent customer service staff, loan can be checked online, payment breaks, ability to pay loan off early Disadvantages: None
toxicreviewer 04.05.2006 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Egg Loans
Advantages: Easy to apply, competitive interest rate, excellent customer service staff, loan can be checked online, payment breaks, ability to pay loan off early Disadvantages: None
toxicreviewer 04.05.2006 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Egg Loans
Sep 22nd, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
