DCF - Direct Car Finance or Don't Call First

Advantages: a way to get a new car if you have credit problems
Disadvantages: not so good if you want the car they tell you you can have

...was not in our price bracket but that there were a few cars he could show us. I must point out that at this point no-one had told us what figures they were working to. We were then ushered out of the main showroom into a "holding area" for cars. He pointed out a Rover 400, a Rover 200, a Mitsubishi and an Escort with the comment that these were all we could afford. Subsequently we agreed that the Rover 200 was probably the best car for us. Then it was back to the table again, the man made his apologies and left us sitting there again. Another 30 minutes go by and someone else arrived clutching a sheaf of papers. This person told us that the finance had been approved and subject to sight of all necessary documents we would be driving our new car home within the hour. By this time I was really getting fraught, not knowing...

davethemerlin 22.10.2002 · Read review
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Review of Direct Car Finance

Churchwood finance debt problems solved

Advantages: reliable friendly service that really does help
Disadvantages: you have to be working

...a poor credit history I needed some advice so I called up the help line and spoke to my advior he was very helpful he said once most of the debts had gone down and proof of regular payments were being made there are companies that work along side them that would help me finance a morgage with a poor credit history, unfortunatly the house was built on mine shafts so full payment was needed and you would struggle to sell it would be great for renting purposes. I was also told about low cost loans that they offered if I was ever going to think about borrowing money. Eventually all the creditor stop contacting me and I only receive a few bills now but in almost 3 years my debts have fell from £5000 to £1100. The only reason that these have not been paid off is because I met my current partner and he got made redundant his debts were at £7000...

hitchjo 15.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Churchwood Finance Ltd

Issue Free Finance

Advantages: money works harder than in a normal bank
Disadvantages: can be complicated to understand at first

...I must say I was surprised to see so many critical reviews of Intelligent Finance here on Ciao. I felt I must redress the balance somewhat as I have had a completely different experience with them. Intelligent Finance are a division of Halifax plc. They are solely internet based which is ideal for a lazy bones like me. Having come across a link to their website I went to investigate... The website (www.if.com) itself is clearly laid out and easy to understand. There are fantastic step by step demos which explain the way IF work using Macromedia Flash or Non Flash (text). You can find information about the different products they offer on this site but in my case I like to talk to someone first so I just telephoned and presented the poor service agent with an endless barrage of questions. The agent I dealt with was incredibly...

volpina 02.07.2002 · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance

Freedom Finance

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: Having to deal with company in Gibraltar for complaints

...My experience with Freedom Finance has been completely different and after searching the internet so many others too. I took out a loan with them and had a complaint that I assumed would be dealt with by them as I thought it was them that I took the loan out with from their homepage. Apparently, they process loans on behalf of a company called Bespoke Finance who are based in Gibraltar and unless you want to be dealing with some other country throughout your complaint then I suggest you steer clear. In their smallprint it states "Freedom Finance process loans on behalf of Bespoke Finance." When making the complaint it is then passed to Gibraltar where this Bespoke Finance is based. Remember to read the smallprint and don't get caught like i did....

marshallka 17.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Freedom Finance

Intelligent?? Finance

Advantages: Competitive borrowing rates
Disadvantages: Woeful call centre expertise and supporting systems

...Style"). The result is that after a couple of years you are forced to go through the rigmarole of making an application for a further advance. This means you have to pay futher administration fees, and valuation fees. But the worst aspect of the whole thing is that IF simply need to be chased constantly. Your application gets stuck in the system and only a call from the account holder can unjam it. You get told that the application is waiting on a call to the account holder, but there is no mechanism actually to action anyone to make the call. It is desperately depressing talking to the first-name-only call centre staff as they seem to have the haziest idea about their own products. (updated on 14 July) I always refer to this bank as 'so called Intelligent Finance". Their customer service is truly awful. I began the process...

stevehem 14.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance Mortgages

Intelligent Finances IQ?

Advantages: 24 hr access to money, good comprehensive web site
Disadvantages: Poor customer service (phone), not easy to pay money into the account

...When it comes to banking I have no loyality what so ever to any bank, I mean lets face it, would they have loyality to you as individual. Most will take your money without giving you a second thought. I have had an Intelligent Finance current account for about 4 years. They are my no means the best bank account around and they arent the worst. If I could describe them in a word - mediocre To be fair to them, when they first appeared on the market they did offer a pretty good deal. They offer the following products 1. Mortages 2. Loans 3. Current Accounts 4. Savings Accounts 5. Credit Cards They also offered a very attractive offer called offsetting. This offsetting allowed the customer to off set the balance of a current or savings account against the balance of a mortage, credit card or loan. A very useful item...

Jaws311uk 13.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance

Three screaming kids and four hours later

Advantages: Credit for people who can't go anywhere else
Disadvantages: See op

...I am sure that you have all seen the adverts for Direct Car Finance – you know the sort of thing – “Need a car, can’t get credit?” Direct Car Finance are different – you can say that again, okay this op is down to personal experience and there may be people who have had a really good experience – if so please let me know. Our old banger had just about given up, failed its MOT and had various other problems, so Hubby phoned this wonderful company, who took various details and were really helpful. We told them the sort of vehicle we were interested in (a people carrier, what with 3 kids and another on the way) and were assured that our nearest branch would have something suitable in stock. A no obligation appointment was made for the Saturday at 10am. Our nearest branch was at Luton (with us...

Ladychatterbox01 03.01.2002 · Read review
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Review of Direct Car Finance

Not So Intelligent Finance

Advantages: Good interest rates for both borrowing and saving.
Disadvantages: Slow international incoming transfers. Credit card account now outside of IF plan.

...OK ... I started off being really quite pleased, and proud of my Intelligent Finance accounts. I had been a student, and we all know what students are like with money. This was my first "working now ... going straight" account, and I opened up the current account, credit card and savings account. All was fine, until I had a reasonably large sum of money sent from the US. This was funds from a sale of stock in the company for which I work. Most of my work colleagues were receiving their money on the 4th working day after selling the shares in the US. Mine was taking nearer 10 working days. I queried this with IF, and after much umming and arring, they admitted to me that they could not tell when funds wired to my account from the US would arrive. It wasn't the 3,000 mile journey that was the problem. They agreed that the funds were...

sexyjw 28.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance

An amazing car seat

Advantages: safe, cosy
Disadvantages: none

...Where to buy: This car seat is readily available. You can buy it from all the shops you'd expect to be able to buy them from including Halfords, mothercare, john lewis', toys r us etc. What do they cost: prices vary depending up on offers and stores but usually this car seat retails at £100. How do they attach? This car seat is different to many of the others on the market. It clips onto a base which is attached to your car, This makes it easy to get the car seat in and out of the car without waking up the baby. The car seat base is attached by the seat belt securing it in place and a metal leg which keeps it stable. Are they comfortable? This car seat is very padded and so a nice cosy seat for your baby. It comes with a head hugger which makes it cosy and safe for a newborn. This headhugger can be removed revealing much...

fearsafe 28.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Maxi-Cosi Cabrio Car Seat

great car seat

Advantages: see rview
Disadvantages: expense, heavy

...I bought this when I had my baby as it was apparently the best on the market and I really can't find fault with it at all it has been the most reliable of our baby products and can't rate it highly enough. This car seat is different from others as it is suitable for up to 9 months whilst the majority of others are just up to 6 months. The seat is well padded and has a 'head hugger' so it is safer for newborns. This headhugger can then be removed once your baby is big enough. The straps also can be adjusted once your baby grows so that it is still safe and comfortable. The straps are easy to use- at first they were fiddly but once you have the hang of them then you know what you're doing they're easy! once you have strapped your baby in you then pull on the straps to make them tight so that your baby is safetly in place...

ditzygirl10 13.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Maxi-Cosi Cabrio Car Seat