Banking & Personal Finance > Loan Lenders

Advantages: Speed
Disadvantages: They do not tell the truth

Picture Loans. Please please anyone who wants to take out a loan with Picture, please take note. Firstly do not believe anything they tell you. I was told by thier representative "Luke" that Picture do not charge future charges if you decide to settle early. This conversation was recorded by Picture themselves but has now mysteriously dissapeared. I was told that the payment protection option would cover me for 60 months of my 300 month agreement ...
...them. I have complained to Picture on many occasions but they will not tell the truth and admit that they have acted Unethically. I took a £50000 secured loan, I have made 6 payments and my early settlement figure as of September 2007 is £62,425.26. Is this what you want to happen to you? Picture Loans WILL rip you off and lie. Please if you need money, then go through your own bank. ... Read review

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: very expensive there are cheaper options

...the review by John Hindle, Greenwoods charges some of the highest interest rates about. Before I took out a cash loan I did some research into interest charges and I hope some one will find this info helpful Based on a £500 cash loan Greenwoods was the highest £500 loan interest is £300 making the total repayable £800 at £25 per week with an APR of 399.7% Next was Shop-a-Check a £500 loan interest is £384 making the total repayable £884 at £17 ...
...Provident (who owns Greenwoods by the way) a £500 loan interest is £325 making the total repayable £825 at £15 per week with an APR of 177.1% One of the lowest but still quite expensive was Universal cash loans a £500 loan interest of £220 making the total repayable £720 with an APR of 128.2% The difference between the highest ,shop-a-check and the lowest Universal is an incredible £164, bearing in mind all these companies offer the same service ... Read review

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Too many to mention

DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY I found myself in a rather disaterous financial situation just a few weeks ago and got put into contact with Citi Financial who, after a phonecall said that the would be able to help me with a loan for more than what I had orginally asked for. We went through the application over the phone and then they asked me to come into the branch for my signature. Needless to say, I had to take half a days holiday from work to ...
...the docs and got told the cheques would be in the post the following day. On my way home from the branch I got a call from the guy I had been dealing with, but didnt have any battery left on my phone, so called him back the following day and left a message for him to say I had returned his call. A week went by, and no cheques arrived, so I decided to give them a quick call. Chatted to the guy who said that he had put my address in incorrectly ... Read review

Advantages: there when you need finance
Disadvantages: dont want to know, if you fall i'll

Welcome Financial Services . On my own Families personnel experience, I just cant bring myself to give Welcome Finance a good rating. 8 years ago now, we took out a personnel loan with them, and also financed the purchase of a second hand car through them as well. My Husband was working full time and well paid, but because we had both gone through previous marriages which had left us both with financial difficulties, as far as a credit rating ...
...finally got sorted, we contacted Welcome Finance about our dilemma, although they sounded sympathetic, we were horrified to learn, we were not covered for Back injuries and we would have to meet the payments. Now on Incapacity Benefit and unable to get Disability allowance, because they say he might possibly be cured, our income took a dramatic nose dive, and we found it difficult to meet any of our financial obligations. Welcome finance called ... Read review

Advantages: quick to answer phone calls
Disadvantages: appaling customer service, don't care attitude, damage to credit file

I took out an Egg loan because they advertise that you can make over payments whenever you want - unfortunately what they don't tell you is if this is received within a few days of the direct debit being due to claim, their systems will think the direct debit has not been paid and you will default on your loan. I only found this out when I received several demanding letters asking for the money I owed them, one for only 45 pence, even though I had ...
...defaults on my file, that Egg nicely agreed to clear, but when I pushed this as something that needs looking into, the attitude was, along the lines of 'we can't be bothered as you're the only one complaining'. My advice - stay well clear and check your credit file if you've many any extra payments ... Read review